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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28149138">Kaika Saisei</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/chattegeorgiana/pseuds/chattegeorgiana'>chattegeorgiana</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kaika: A Naruto AU after the war [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Haruno Sakura-centric, Hyuuga Neji Lives, Strong Haruno Sakura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:48:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>32,373</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28149138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/chattegeorgiana/pseuds/chattegeorgiana</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Following the events of 699, this alternate universe deals with the story of Sakura Haruno and her struggle to live as a normal human ninja after she witnessed ninja gods walking on earth.<br/>Despite her newly acquired power, it never seems to be enough, as once more, her teammates break a new threshold of power.<br/>Is she going to be able to keep up with them as she always wanted? Can she fight against the threats of powerful gods, although she's nothing but a normal human with civilian parents?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruno Sakura/Uzumaki Naruto, Karin/Uchiha Sasuke</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kaika: A Naruto AU after the war [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2062110</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Every end is a new beginning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello everyone, Chatte here.<br/>As some of you know, I'm an old big time Sakura Haruno fan who, after being away from the fandom for so long, decided to come back and write her own Sakura Haruno centric Naruto AU after the war story.</p><p>Story is present on multiple channels, the main one being on my blog which you can find in my bio, where you can read it as a story book format. </p><p>The update schedule's goal is once a month. Hopefully I'll manage to deliver, however being an adult there are many things I need to take care of. My real adult life and my job for starters. </p><p>Then it all depends on commissioning time because as well, I have decided to have a poster image for each chapter. That requires money and well, living in a poor East European country can take a toll on your finances. </p><p>But I'm doing my best to deliver.</p><p>General rule: first the chapters will appear on my blog, after a week on the other channels.</p><p>Anyway, that's kind of it. If you want to know anything else, just ask. :D</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She watched from behind as the shade of the man she once used to cry for was yet again leaving. But this time there was something different. The sun was up in the sky with the promise to make light on these new paths they were all going to walk.</p><p>“You have nothing to do with my sins,” the words echoed as she watched the silhouette fading on the horizon.<br/>
In a curious spur of the moment, she had asked Sasuke if this time he would be willing to take her with him on his travels. It was their thing from back when Sasuke first left Konoha, and for a moment, Sakura felt the need to test those waters. For what purpose? She wasn't exactly sure herself.<br/>
To put to test her bond with Sasuke, to see his reaction? Reasons could’ve been a handful, but at the end of the day, she felt like it was something she had to do, so she did it. </p><p>As that echoed through the chambers of her mind, Sakura then turned back towards the grandiose gates that were the entrance to Konoha. Kakashi was there watching from behind.</p><p>“Kakashi sensei!” she murmured as the man held his hand up in the air in his usual wave.<br/>
“Well, Sakura, I’ve got a lot on my plate now with this Hokage business so I’ve got to roll back. Care to join me or…?” the man asked as he slowly started walking away into the city.</p><p>“You just go ahead, sensei! I’ll catch-up with you later” she replied. For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to stay there for a little while longer, as her mind kept replaying the moments of her departure from Sasuke.</p><p>That thank you evoked memories of a distant past, but the forehead poke that followed soon afterwards ignited some feelings in her heart she didn’t know how to respond to. For so long she had wanted the faintest response from Sasuke’s part that now that she got one, it felt bizarre.</p><p>Used to chasing after him for such a long time, and especially his on and off treatment in the war, along with the newest developments left Sakura with all kinds of confusing feelings and a mind that raced, unable to still itself.</p><p>All these contradictions bumped into one another inside her mind, feeling as if her spirit didn’t have enough space to reside in there. From that to getting flustered and feeling crowded into her own body, and thus by extension quite fussy, was only a small step. The redness on her face slowly built up as all those thoughts kept racing inside her mind.</p><p>‘What was that gesture Sasuke did? On my forehead. On this big forehead I've always hated. After all this time. Such a gentle touch, though...’ one of the voices was quick to point out, as a small smile drew itself on the right corner of her lip. But then, it wasn’t long until another one came around. ‘But then again, in the war… he was so cold, like… he didn’t care at all about the fact that I was about to be roasted like a chicken out in the open in Kaguya’s dimension. He treated me and Kakashi-sensei so coldly!’ the switching voice was quick to point out. ‘But then he apologized, and now he said thank you. And even touched my most hated feature. He can be trusted now, right?’ the contradictions kept playing inside her head.</p><p>“You're back again, aren't you?” Sakura said snarkily at her own inner voices, which were all part of the same old Sakura, the one she seldom left out in the open for the naked eye and kept hidden for various reasons. Be it that she had to be the exemplar child, or student at the academy. </p><p>“Bah!” she was quick to let out a shout as to somehow breathe out all those frustrations and try to get herself back down to Earth again. This wasn’t the best time to overthink, but somehow her ever-working mind wasn’t cooperating with her right now.</p><p>Such a skillful mind was perfect when it came to Byakugō. To be able to work at all times, even in her sleep and continue to amass chakra so that it could awakened was all that was needed. </p><p>Finally, those geeky years in her academy days paid off. That packed with her hobby to memorize different trivia games and information, were put to good use.<br/>
When she had to control every aspect of her chakra so that the portion she might lose while performing a jutsu be put into her seal, to her it was like icing on the cake. Like a muscle that memorizes a move after repeating it enough times. It eventually becomes a second nature of some sorts. </p><p>All she had to do was to observe and sense her chakra flow while performing a certain technique, direct it somewhere else, and then make her body memorize that movement. Repeat it once or twice until her body got the knack of it and that was it. It didn’t take long until she was able to do it even when she was asleep.<br/>
But when it came to matters of the heart and soul, well… such a mind felt more like a curse than a blessing.<br/>
Being able to see the possibilities, the outcomes, the threads… it wasn’t that easy. Human interaction and social situations required more than a mechanical mind working like the perfect machinery. </p><p>But as all those lines of thinking kept tangling more and more, until she could barely see it getting untangled any time soon, she felt a warm hand on her right shoulder.<br/>
Sakura instantly felt her body entering into a state of calm from the warmth. Her mind stilled and the fog inside it dissipated. She knew very well that sensation. It was only one person who could succeed in making her feel that way. It was no mistaking it and she smiled warmly as she turned around to confirm the person behind her.</p><p>“Naruto,” Sakura acknowledged his presence while the tension in her body slowly started to fade away from the thoughts that had been occupying her mind. By the time he said his first word Sakura’s posture was a lot more relaxed, as if she had just bathed in the sun’s warmth.<br/>
The blonde met her with a serenity only he could exude, and the same big smile that was his notorious trademark.</p><p>“Yo, Sakura-chan!” he greeted her back. “What are you doing here?” Naruto asked. He knew very well what the problem might be since he saw Sasuke and her departing a few moments before he and Sasuke did. He didn’t have to guess why she was at unease.</p><p>But whereas with all the others he was the one who gave them a pep-talk in order to get them out of their comfort zone and come to certain realizations, he knew that with Sakura it ought to be different. He knew that all he had to do was to get her talking, because in the end she’d figure it out herself.  She just needed a safe space to express her feelings and a shoulder to share the burden with.</p><p>And nothing made him happier than doing that for her. Because in the end, he didn't have to do anything extraordinary. Just be there for and with her. The rest? She could do it herself. Sakura was a big girl now. And ever since he knew her, she had the ability to make the best out of the situation she was in. Something he admired about her. Her chakra control training when they were genin was proof enough of that quality of hers.</p><p>It was only that, from time to time, like any other human being, she had the tendency to fall.</p><p>And nothing made him happier than being the one to catch her. Just being there for her, being her shoulder to cry on, to care and support her, like she had done in exchange. And for that he would be forever grateful to her, because back when they were genin, it was a form of acknowledgement he so much sought from the ones around him.</p><p>All that he ever wanted. </p><p>Even back in their academy days when she didn’t even have him that close to heart, it was still Sakura who carried his wounded self, when he would stupidly rush into something head first, thinking second and got his ass handed to him.<br/>
He’d always remember those days fondly, like when he remembered everything they’d gone through together.<br/>
From disliking him to being able to call her his girlfriend in front of his father…<br/>
Oh, the fondness of that realization... </p><p>But its warmth didn’t last long as he remembered the moment earlier between her and Sasuke. Plus, he had just asked her a question, sensing her heart’s restlessness.<br/>
“Oh, I was just about to get back to town. It wasn’t until long ago that I parted with Sasuke-kun,” she responded to him in a lower tone, with a slight sense of mixed bittersweet feeling grabbing onto her being. It was then Naruto had it clear what was the cause of her fretting. Just as he had thought. But he put up a strong front for her. He wasn’t going to let her get dragged down.</p><p>“What about yourself, Naruto?” Sakura asked before he could say what he had in mind. She had learned the tendency Naruto has to put up that strong front when it came to her. She had learned it just before this war started. And while she appreciated it, she didn’t want him to carry any more burdens for her. It was a complex and complicated situation as it was already, so she didn’t want to put him through any more of that. Especially on her behalf. It was time to be a big girl now…</p><p>Amazed and a bit shocked at how quickly she seemed to gather back her composure, Naruto answered her question.</p><p>“I, too, come from my departing words with Sasuke. He said he has to leave because he has some journeys to do until we’ll settle things between us,” he told her. “It’s gonna take a while until he’ll get back from the looks of it,” Naruto added.</p><p>At that time, no matter how fast Sakura gained her composure, she was quick to stumble into a fretting state again. Since the subject of Sasuke and his indefinite absence was still a soft spot somewhere there, inside of her, somewhat unhealed.</p><p>“Hehe, I know. I even asked him in the spur of the moment what if I wanted to go with him, and he told me that I have nothing to do with his sins. He yet keeps me at distance,” Sakura responded to Naruto’s statement. </p><p>But as she talked to Naruto, she realized that it wasn’t all that bad.<br/>
In a way, she felt relieved. </p><p>Yes, Sasuke didn’t take her with him, but at least now he wasn’t leaving to knock on darkness' doors once again, but on a different path.<br/>
It was a bittersweet ending to a years old state of affairs.</p><p>She remembered how it was when Sasuke first left, the reasons he did so. In comparison, now they had nothing to worry about, so she allowed a faint smile in the corner of her mouth to make its appearance.</p><p>After all, at least they were able to somewhat be together again as a team, even if apart.<br/>
Sakura looked towards Naruto and smiled fondly. </p><p> “You really made it possible for us to look forward to a day when we can all be together again and smile,” she told him.<br/>
Naruto was taken aback “Ugh, I…” he mumbled with uncertainty while taking his well-known confused feelings position with a hand on the back of his head and smiling nervously. The one he had left, anyway.</p><p>“Thank you, Naruto…” Sakura added with a serenity in her tone and warmth in her eyes that somehow only when she was around him, she managed to express.<br/>
Those were the words that quickly drew him back into the lands of determination, as he was quick to assure Sakura once more.</p><p>“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan! He’s definitely going to come back home one of these days! And if he gets lost, I’m personally going to get that idiot back home to you so he can finally see what an amazing girl you are and how your feelings for him are so pure and strong! He is so lucky to have someone like you caring for him and rooting for him, Sakura-chan.</p><p>I don’t think he understands how lucky he is! And, in return, how much you deserve to receive back for all that care you held for him until now!” Naruto stated with determination. Although it pained him on the inside at the realization of those words, he truly believed them.</p><p>And it didn’t matter his feelings, as long as Sakura would be happy. </p><p>“Naruto…” Sakura called his name in a lowered soft voice, taken completely by surprise by his words. She didn’t know what to say or how to respond to them. All that she knew was that once again, his words filled her spirit with hope, in a way no one had ever managed to do so.</p><p>She didn’t even get the chance to fully feel the sensation his words gave her, because Naruto kept going.<br/>
“I’m sure that all he needs is a little time to come to terms with everything that has happened. Everything he feels, everything that he experienced up until now. After all, like we both talked about… we were children, starved of love. We didn't know better, neither me nor him. </p><p>But I’m positive that as soon as he finds his answers, he’s going to come back to you, reciprocating the beautiful feelings you harbor for him, Sakura-chan!” he added while his words were accompanied by another one of his big trademark big smiles for her.</p><p>“After all, he is one lucky guy for being on the receiving end of your heart’s desire, Sakura-chan!” Naruto continued like a stream of rivers giving life to the land itself.<br/>
Because to him, it truly felt that way. The one who had his Sakura-chan’s heart must truly be a lucky man. To be loved by such a heart, gentle and fierce heart at the same time, could only be a blessing. </p><p>“I can only hope to be that lucky and someday I can meet a someone who will feel as strongly about me as you feel about Sasuke.” Naruto finished while his big grin turned into a soft smile, looking down on Sakura with warmth in his eyes. And a little bit of pain.</p><p>He remembered what he had seen moments before his talk with Sasuke. Him poking her forehead must’ve definitely brought hope back to her heart. Plus, Naruto knew from times long forgotten, her reaction from back when he complimented her charming forehead. Sure, he wished it would’ve been still him to kiss it one day, but as long as Sakura was happy, Naruto was fine to give up that dream. </p><p>He was a man that hardly gave up something once he put his mind to it. But for Sakura’s happiness, he would give up the world. </p><p>As she heard those words, Sakura tilted her head to the ground. She felt like she didn’t deserve such praise from Naruto.<br/>
Especially after all those years she put him through hardship. How can he even think and speak those words, she wondered?<br/>
The same man that held such feelings for her for years, to speak such great words about her and Sasuke? How can he be like this? So positive, so kind, so warm? So selfless.<br/>
It was something about Naruto she had yet to understand herself. </p><p>Sure, Sasuke’s memory wasn’t gone from her heart, but Naruto? Naruto had a place in her heart she had yet to find an answer to. She didn’t know where to put the things he made her feel. She didn’t even know how to define them. </p><p>All she knew is that she was so grateful to him and his care and support, and that she desired what’s best in this world for him. </p><p>“Naruto…,” seemed to be all that Sakura could muster to say as she raised her gaze from the ground to meet his, filled with the warmth she was oh so accustomed to.<br/>
As she looked at him and hearing his words, she couldn’t help but think about how he deserved the best. How he deserved the world. And something much better than her, anyway. That’s what she thought, definitely.</p><p>It wasn’t her who was going to make him happy after all the pain she caused him. In Sakura’s opinion, Naruto deserved someone who didn’t put him through the severest of pains, like she always seemed to foolishly do.<br/>
He didn’t need someone as her, on the contrary. The person who would be better for him would be someone like...</p><p>“Uhm, by way Sakura-chan…” Naruto interrupted whatever was going through her mind at that moment, clearing his throat as he prepared to tell her something from the looks of it. </p><p>Her train of thought got stopped as soon as his voice made its presence felt, for a moment bringing her back from the blue of the skies of his gaze in which she seemed to lose herself.</p><p>“I want to apologize...’ he quickly added.</p><p>“Huh, what for?” Sakura interrupted him for a brief moment, asking confusedly what he was talking about. What in the world he had to apologize for when he hardly ever did her wrong anyway? What was this apology he was talking about?</p><p>“Please, let me finish first,” he asked her in a firm yet gentle tone.</p><p>She shut it instantly and focused all her attention on what he was preparing to say.</p><p>“I want to apologize to you for responding positively to my father’s question. You know, that one where I called you my girlfriend” he continued visibly embarrassed a little, while his gaze turned sideways for a moment, as he uttered the word girlfriend. </p><p>He knew the implications of his positive response, but for a moment, in the heat of the war, he forgot where he was and carrying his mother’s wish with him at all times, it was the closest he felt to a normal family ever since Jiraiya had died. </p><p>I mean, what more could he have wished for? </p><p>The girl of his dreams next to him, who for better or worse had after all confessed to him earlier before the start of the war. His dad in front of him. And while his mother wasn’t present, Sakura was as close to his mother as he had ever met. She was that “someone like herself” Kushina had told him to find. And in all that mess, for a brief moment the rest of the world paused. He felt like he was in the perfect setting. One he had for so long dreamed of. His mother's wish fulfilled, his dad in front of him, while the girl of his dreams next to him. For that brief moment the reality of his world felt perfect. </p><p>So yes, he had told his father that Sakura was his girlfriend. But now, after all the heat of the moment had cooled off, and time to process everything was of plenty, he had to face reality. Things were a lot more complex than a simple yes to a question.</p><p>And, while yes, Sakura confessed to him, he now understood why she did it. She just wanted to shelter him from pain and danger. Like he, once had wished to do so for her. To shelter her beautiful smile from sadness and pain, to protect that smiling face, he would’ve done anything. </p><p>So, he truly understood where she’d been coming from. And while he appreciated her gesture, it was a different kind of love he yearned for from Sakura. But… it would be okay if he didn't get it. It had to be, because in the end all that mattered was for her to be happy, right?</p><p>However, with everything, given that confession and the reason behind it, still didn’t give him the right to call Sakura his girlfriend.<br/>
If that were to ever happen, it would truly have to come from Sakura herself. But until then, he had an apology to offer. He owed her that much.<br/>
Sakura listened without interruption as Naruto continued.</p><p>“My reaction spurred from my wish to make sure I listen to my late mother’s wishes before her passing,” Naruto added.<br/>
‘Late mother’s wishes before passing?’ Sakura’s mind started wondering, as Naruto continued his apology. But what about his late mother’s wishes? What was it about them that Naruto felt the need to connect her to them? </p><p>Plus, as far as she knew, Naruto was an orphan. What was that happened the time she had been away from him pre-war, that now he speaks of these things?<br/>
She couldn’t help but ask him. </p><p>“Late mother’s wishes? But what wishes are those, Naruto?” Sakura asked really curious and confused at the same time. She really wanted to know because she was trying to understand him like she has been trying for so long. Ever since he left Konoha, and later when he returned and she found out about his jinchuuriki status.</p><p>“Well, it’s a more complicated story and uhm… maybe another time” Naruto was quick to deflect with a slight pained expression, despite his earlier bravado.</p><p>She could tell that for some reason he wasn’t feeling comfortable with talking about this very subject so she didn’t push it. Even she could see that, so she agreed with him and didn’t try to push it any further. After all, they were coming after a war.</p><p>They would have a lot of time in the future to talk about these things. About the time they have been apart before the war. And about all that happened in-between then.<br/>
Thinking about it, Sakura realized how much catching-up they had to do. Which also reminded her that there was this one time before their separation where she too, had wronged him.</p><p>And since Naruto apologized for such a trivial thing, she had something more serious to apologize for.</p><p>“Naruto, listen-up!” Sakura added in exchange. “I thank you for your words earlier but… I too, have something to apologize for…” she continued while looking a bit sideways herself, remembering the deed she was about to make an apology for.</p><p>“I’m sorry for what I told you in the Land of Iron” Sakura said. “I am sorry for making it seem like I was making fun of you in such dire times. I only did it out of desperation, I guess.</p><p>I…” she paused for a bit remembering Sai’s words about the burden she put on Naruto. Sakura closed her eyes a bit and took a deep breath.<br/>
“I only wanted to relieve you of the burden I put on you with that promise. Because you see, back then there was no one else I trusted more than you when I asked you to bring Sasuke-kun back,” she added. </p><p>“I couldn’t even trust Kakashi-sensei because it wasn’t the first time when he told me things were going to be alright without them truly being.” Sakura continued.<br/>
“But with you, with you it was different...” she said while she raised her gaze to meet his. </p><p>“I trusted you completely. And so, I put that burden on you, without thinking of how it would affect you. And for that I’m truly sorry.” Sakura told him. </p><p>“Then out of desperation to fix that and lift that burden and make sure you’re safe, yet again I wronged you. Without a second thought of how I was to execute such a move.<br/>
I guess I was just desperate to bring you back to Konoha with everything else that was happening… Sasuke-kun going rampant, you being the vessel of the nine tail and by extent a target, war at our doorstep…” Sakura continued as memories of all those moments once again made place in her mind’s eye.</p><p>They weren’t her proudest memories, but that wasn’t the point of the discussion now. All she truly wanted was to let Naruto know how sorry she felt for making him go through all of that.</p><p>“Nevertheless, I was wrong for what I did, making you think I would make fun of you with my declaration and I apologize for it! I’m sorry. I’m truly… sorry!” she ended on a firm and concise tone.</p><p>Naruto couldn’t help but feel a mix of feelings; bittersweet ones. But despite everything, he couldn’t stay mad at her. He understood her and the place she was coming from. He would’ve done everything in his power to keep her safe, too. If only the place from where each other's feelings bloomed would come from the same place.</p><p>“Sakura-chan…” he was quick to add. “When you told me you loved me, for that brief moment I was the happiest man in the world,” Naruto told her in a lowered voice, with a somewhat sentimental expression.</p><p>“It’s not that I don’t love you…!” Sakura found herself quick to respond as a flame that just exploded in a blaze. But then she stopped equally as fast as she snapped, realizing what she had just said and how that might have sounded. And the complexity of the situation. And the reason they were having this discussion to begin with. It didn’t stop her cheeks from blushing, though...</p><p>“What I mean is… with what I did back then, I wanted to unburden you and let you know that you are truly loved!” she added fast. </p><p>“By the whole village” she continued. “By some, even more...” Sakura added, as flashes of a certain someone ran through her mind and the big things she did for Naruto.<br/>
It was now her time to smile in the same bittersweet fashion as she looked at Naruto with candid eyes.</p><p>“You already have a pure heart that feels strongly about you, Naruto…!” Sakura said with a conflicted certainty in her voice. </p><p>“Remember how she sacrificed for you when Pein attacked our village? Or when Neji died? How she was there for you, next to you? You just haven’t been able to truly notice these big things she does for you” she told Naruto, as her gaze showed a pain in them, she didn’t even realize she was having.</p><p>“Sakura-chan…” Naruto said, looking into her eyes trying to understand that look of hers.</p><p>But whatever these two had to tell to each had to wait, as Yamato interrupted their talk upon meeting with them at the gates.</p><p>“By comparison, I…” were the last words she said while lowering her head once more when Naruto’s attention was taken away by Yamato’s figure.</p><p>“Eeeh?!” he was quick to shout at the sight of the man. Sakura followed herself quickly after Naruto.</p><p>They hadn’t realized the time that had passed them while they were talking. It had gone so fast, though<br/>
.<br/>
“Yamato-taichou!” they both exclaimed in awe. They hadn’t seen the man since a long while and reading the reports it got pretty worrisome. They were just happy to see him.</p><p>“How are you feeling?” Sakura turned and asked the man with Naruto now standing behind her once again.</p><p>“Well, not bad, not terrible. Coming from certain errands” he responded in his usual lackluster tone. </p><p>“Errands?” Naruto and Sakura both asked in unison. “What could those errands be?” Naruto continued with the questioning.</p><p>“Well, that’s a top mission I am not allowed to divulge just like that. But enough about me. What are you two doing here?” Yamato quickly changed the subject.</p><p>They both start getting flustered as they try to mumble jumble at ways to properly explain their discussion from earlier.</p><p>“We were just uhm…” Sakura said, looking at Naruto’s side. </p><p>“We were just parting ways with an old friend” Naruto quickly reacted. His skills to get out of uncomfortable situations were surely appreciated in moments like these. And if Naruto did it with a God such as Kaguya, he was sure to do it with Yamato.</p><p>“Yeah, plus we wanted to head to the Hokage office as the transitioning between Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei still happens, although Kakashi-sensei has officially taken the seat since a week ago” Sakura was quick to add herself.</p><p>“Care to join us? Since after all, we’re all kind of heading towards the same direction, right, Captain?” she asked. She put two plus two together. If he would be back from a mission then he would definitely have to file in a report. So, he would definitely go to the Hokage office.</p><p>Since she was a student of a Hokage, and now by extent Naruto was too, since Kakashi had taken the office, she thought this would be a perfect way out to change the subject and draw it to a more logistical approach than what the two's discussion entailed earlier.</p><p>Yamato agreed, and waved his hand at them, making it clear that as soon as they started walking, he’d be sure to join them.</p><p>Naruto and Sakura looked each other in the eyes for one last time, as they proceeded walking towards the entrance of Konoha alongside Yamato.<br/>
Their talk would have to be postponed. Plus, this day was an end to a period of their lives filled with lots of trials and tribulations.<br/>
What was in the past, would stay there. That time had ended.</p><p>But every end is a new beginning, so who knows what the future might hold in store?<br/>
All they’ll have to do is each walk their own path and find out the answer that this new beginning holds…</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Of Gods and Goddesses</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Now that the war has ended and things have finally settled down, Sakura can't help but think about the newly found reality she's in.<br/>In the war that has just passed, she's witnessed ninja gods walking among them, even having to face them herself.</p>
<p>What toll did this took on Sakura and who she can talk about this with?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Soo, we're finally here at chapter 2! Like always, if you want to see the storybook edition, you can see it on my blog.</p>
<p>Now about the chapter? Well, we're finally jumpstaring Sakura's plot.</p>
<p>There are some heavy thoughts she's carrying with her, and she desperately needs to confess those to someone.<br/>And who better if not the person who brought Sakura to the level she is today?</p>
<p>Read the master and student's little talk and find out how both can relate to one another in more ways than we thought possible at first.<br/>Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Walking alongside each other, Sakura, Naruto and Yamato talked about all sorts of things. Yamato seemed to be his usual self, scary and secretive, but also open at the same time. Quite a curious combination. Must be due to so many years spent in the Anbu.<br/>
But as fine as he tried making things be, Sakura couldn’t help but notice the exhaustion in Yamato’s spirit. </p>
<p>She truly worried about him so it wasn’t long until she broke the ice and asked the man about his general state of being, without taking a no for an answer.<br/>
For a moment, Yamato thought about keeping it evasive, but then he remembered Sakura’s determination when she truly wanted something. </p>
<p>And at the end of the day, those weren’t the children he once used to captain. But full-blown soldiers that had just been through a war. It had been only a week and a half since the war ended, but it felt like a lifetime ago.</p>
<p>“I’m fine, Sakura,” he finally responded. “Just a bit tired and truthfully I’d need a break from everything that has happened, especially in the war,” Yamato ended his response with his signature bored face.</p>
<p>“Taichou, I understood from Tsunade-sama that you were used as a power source for the enemy’s army... is that true?” Sakura asked while Naruto’s eyes widened in disbelief.</p>
<p>“Eeeh? Yamato-taichou is that really true?” he was quick to add right after Sakura. So much had happened in the war and after it, that Naruto still hadn’t had the time to catch-up with everyone and everything that occurred. The war ending, the formalities after the end of it, the funerals of Neji Hyuga, as well as Shikamaru and Ino’s fathers, Tsunade stepping down as Hokage and Kakashi taking over… a lot had been going on in such a short period of time.</p>
<p>Yamato groaned a bit, after which he looked in Sakura’s and Naruto’s direction. “Yes, it is. Apparently having Hashirama-sama’s cells meant a bull’s eye target on my back all along,” he shrugged it off at the end.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, that quickly reminded Sakura about what Tsunade was working on and Naruto’s hurt hand. Or well, lack of it since his battle with Sasuke.<br/>
She quickly turned away her gaze from Yamato towards Naruto. </p>
<p>“Oh, since we’re talking about Hashirama-dono… Naruto, listen up! After we’re done with the final mantle transferring from Tsunade-sama to Kakashi-sensei, you should come down with us at the hospital,” Sakura informed him.</p>
<p>“Eeeh, but why?” Naruto asked in his usual why do I have to fashion. Some things were bound to never change, she thought as her breath slipped a small sigh.<br/>
“Because of your arm, you idiot!” she snapped at him in their usual bickering ways. Naruto might have been a walking God amongst mortals since the war, but in certain regards he was just as dense as ever.</p>
<p>“But I don’t need it fixed! Sasuke didn’t get his either!” Naruto responded back to Sakura in his usual childish ways. For some reason, for him it was enough motive to keep his arm the way it was. So what if half of it was missing anyway? </p>
<p>“Naruto…!” Sakura shouted while her gaze frowned, darkened, and fixated him. It was in that moment that Naruto recalled what he had promised himself in the war: never to talk back to Sakura. Ever again. So, it didn’t last long until that gaze was followed by a scolding as well.</p>
<p>“When will you start to think about yourself, you idiot? I’ve had enough with one idiot who refused to wait to have his arm fixed, I’m not having the other one do the same. Plus, you should really start to put yourself first once in a while, okay? You were about to die in this damn war, then you and Sasuke-kun had to go fight to finally put your differences to the side and like two idiots that you both are, you broke your arms!” Sakura ranted continuously at Naruto with no pause.</p>
<p>“Plus, it’s a matter of being able to properly mold chakra. How do you think you’ll be able to do it with half an arm missing, huh?” She continued as Naruto barely managed to put in a word or two, no matter how much he tried.</p>
<p>“Sakura-chaaan…!” Naruto tried to interfere so he could make her yield her scolding; but she was having none of it.<br/>

“No! I don’t even want to hear it. You’re coming with me and Tsunade-sama to get your arm fixed. End of story! You hear me?”<br/>

For a moment it was like they forgot Yamato was also there, but he had no issues with it. He just watched the two bickering like in the old days, in their old ways. Some things do change, but as much as they change, as much as they stay the same.</p>
<p>And Sakura and Naruto were no exception. A war had passed and they had participated in it, having gone through pain and loss, and yet, at their core, they still remained those two bickering children who would flame into a quarrel the next second, but would put their life on the line for one another if anything danger were to befall any of them. </p>
<p>Knowing what they had been through, Yamato smiled relieved at the sight of them getting along just fine. What had happened before the war had been quite a delicate situation for both of them. </p>
<p>But at the end of the day, like always, they seemed to find a way to work things out through any hardship that comes their way. Be it made by their own hands or at the hands of external forces.</p>
<p>It wasn’t long until everyone arrived at the Hokage’s office. Yamato was just content with letting them express themselves and have a go at whatever they had to sort out with one another, while Naruto and Sakura were so immersed in their little bickering.<br/>

He left a subtle cough or two out so that the two could realize how much they have derailed from their initial talk, and get back to normality since after all, they were about to head into the Hokage’s building.</p>
<p>The next moment Naruto and Sakura stopped, as both of them looked towards Yamato’s direction, then at the building. That’s when they realized how lost they’ve been in their small exchange of nags, to put it mildly. Realizing the fact, they quickly apologized to Yamato and returned to their serious selves.<br/>

“You two go ahead!” Yamato directed them as all three of them entered the premises.<br/>
“I have to write the report first before going to the office to give the verbal reporting as well.”<br/>
Naruto and Sakura nodded at Yamato in agreement as they headed towards the Hokage’s office, while Yamato continued his path towards the report filling room. </p>
<p><strong>___________</strong>
</p><hr/>
<p>Boxes filled with a lot of paperwork slammed the desk’s surface as others came along and got piled up one over the other.<br/>
“This is the missions reports box, this one’s the general incidents reports, this...” she waved her hand towards where the box was “the general inquiries, this one here is the academy reports, while this one over here is the general military expenses reports, while next to it war costs report and on top of it is the village reconstruction costs report,” Tsunade told Kakashi as she kept pointing at all the different boxes placed on his desk. </p>
<p>“These would be the ones you need to take a look over first things first, while others are on their way”, she added with a smirk, after witnessing Kakashi’s whole being slowly draining on the Hokage’s seat as his eyes betrayed his spirit and revealed the cry of help inside of him.<br/>
When she ended up with the whole box set presentation, she slammed her hand over the desk, between the remaining space in front of Kakashi, her and the boxes and leaned forward, looking him directly in the eyes. </p>
<p>“Buckle-up, Hatake! You’re in for a wild administrative and political ride!” She ended her sentence with a big grin.<br/>
“Godaime-sama… You seem to enjoy this a little bit too much, aren’t you?” He responded while a metaphorical sweat drop streamed down his mind. And boy wasn’t he right?<br/>
Tsunade was thoroughly enjoying her time off the Hokage duties. She had decided after the war that she has had enough leadership for the moment and it’s time to step down and have the younger generation deal with these administrative matters.</p>
<p>Having no one around from her generation to be able to count on also took its toll. Plus, who better to be a Hokage in a newly formed alliance, if not the man who led the team who managed to seal Goddess Kaguya into oblivion? </p>
<p>He was the one chosen to be her successor back when Pein had attacked anyway. Of course, back then he respectfully declined and backed down, as he considered such tasks to not be suited for someone like himself. But sometimes life has other plans for one...</p>
<p>The original team 7 and its former team gained a lot of recognition in the war. They were the new legends that managed to bring hope to what looked like a doomed world.<br/>
Besides that, it was a time for change, and Tsunade saw herself as a relic that stood between two worlds.<br/>
She found it more fitting like this. Change was coming their way, like she and Orochimaru had talked in the war.<br/>
She was about to embrace it and that meant a new generation was to take the mantle now. </p>
<p>Sure, she had hoped that Naruto would be the one succeeding her, but the knucklehead still had to learn a thing or two about administrative and political tasks. Other than that, he was more than fit to be a Hokage. </p>
<p>That was the reason however Hatale Kakashi was taking the mantle until Naruto was prepared enough. Plus, in the meantime, it would be enough for Naruto to get used to the ins and outs of the job.</p>
<p>Not to mention, Tsunade had other reasons for which she chose to do this.<br/>
From her experience as a Hokage, she knew how hard it’s for a young aspirant when relics of the past interfere with futuristic vision. She wanted to make sure that such a thing would never happen while she’s still alive.</p>
<p>And as long as she’ll be around there, she’ll certainly not allow that. But such things were to be of future preoccupation…<br/>
Now all she had to do was to just pass on the mantle. And it was going oh so well.</p>
<p>Her slight smudged smirk turned into a curious expression when she heard a knock on the Hokage’s door.</p>
<p>“Come in!” she invited the guests. For some reason, she was still used to being the one commanding the room.<br/>
Naruto and Sakura opened the door and entered the room as Tsunade apologized to Kakashi. “Sorry about that. It’s well… a force of habit” she explained herself while turning back to Naruto and Sakura again.</p>
<p>“Right on time, you two!” Tsunade stated happily. “Just finished with Kakashi here, put him on track with all the things that he has to take care of, so I’m all ready to set. Naruto, ready to have your arm fixed?” Tsunade asked. </p>
<p>“Yes m’am!” he responded quickly as he felt Sakura’s gaze over his head. Having Sakura on his back was one thing, but her master as well? These two were way scarier than any enemy he had fought before, so no thanks, he wasn’t risking any of that.</p>
<p>“Okay then, let us proceed!” Tsunade commanded as she moved away from Kakashi’s desk towards Naruto and Sakura.</p>
<p>“Oi, Kakashi!” she turned around when she got in line with the two. “One more thing I’d advise you to do, though…”</p>
<p>“What’s that, Godaime?” Kakashi asked, slightly exasperated at the thought of the burdening administrative tasks he had to take care of, and now one more. He even wondered for a second how Tsunade even managed to do all of it, while also training Sakura. “And to come out of it so well, still,” he thought.<br/>
But his inner questioning was quickly interrupted by Tsunade. </p>
<p>“A ceremony. Objective? Simple: to promote your soldiers for their efforts and achievements in the war” she said. “This one here is still a genin, as far as we can remember” she said waving her hand up and down Naruto’s silhouette. </p>
<p>“He’s supposed to be the next in line after you, remember? Me, you, every person on this earth and their grandpas, mine included, heard about how he wants to be a Hokage someday. So, naturally, he’ll be one. In terms of power at least, that’s not even questionable.” Tsunade said with the same confidence she always had in Naruto. Especially since the start of the war. She was the first one to bet on him and his dependability and the asset he’d turn out to be. Oppositions existed, sure, but in the end, she proved them all she was right, as he was the key component in defeating Kaguya.</p>
<p>“But who’s gonna anoint Hokage a genin, though? Are you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.</p>
<p>Kakashi didn’t even get to let out a breath because Tsunade was quick to interrupt him once more.</p>
<p>“And this one?” she said while moving slowly towards Sakura’s side of the room, positioning herself next to her.</p>
<p>“This one deserves a promotion for all she accomplished in this war!” Tsunade said with a big grin of pride on her face. She turned her gaze towards her student and looked her in the eyes and said to her “I always knew you had it in you!”. And she meant every word of it.</p>
<p>Ever since she started training Sakura, Tsunade could see her potential. Shizune had been a great apprentice, too, but there was something about Sakura that reminded her of her young self. You could say she was looking in a mirror, in certain ways.</p>
<p>Sure, despite her determination, Sakura highly doubted her skills when first stepped into her office, and Tsunade saw that. She recognized that doubt from her own past. But she knew the antidote to it, as well. Tsunade applied it to Sakura with no remorse whatsoever. She was to be a diamond, and if she would shine, she’d have to take the hard pressure diamonds are born under.</p>
<p>And she did. Sakura shone in the darkest of times and the hardest of pressures: those of a war. </p>
<p>And what harder times than those, where death knocks at your life’s door at every step of the way? When at every move it accompanies your spirit, waiting for it to trespass the gates of the world beyond the mundane life?</p>
<p>Tsunade knew that very well… How it is to know the horrors of war and how it can absolutely break your spirit. But instead of getting hers broken, Sakura’s spirit turned into a diamond and shone its light on the battlefield. </p>
<p>She awakened Byakugo, summoned Katsuyu, held her ground against the very God Tree and punched a God itself in the face. That was her girl! And Tsunade couldn’t have been prouder of it. </p>
<p>So, a promotion was truly well deserved. In her eyes, Sakura was perfectly capable of being a Jonin. She did all those things by the time she was sixteen. What an achievement that was.</p>
<p>“Are we clear on the recommendations, Hatake?” Tsunade ended asking.</p>
<p>He watched the imagery in front of him and with all things considered, Tsunade was once again right. </p>
<p>Especially when it came to Sakura. A flash of the old days passed through his mind’s eye as he heard Tsunade speaking of Sakura’s merits. She was indeed surpassing every expectation. The girl he met back in the academy days was no more. </p>
<p>Now, a young lady was in front of him. One that deserved all the praise and reccomendation for her contribution in the war, indeed.</p>
<p>Who would’ve thought that the little lovestruck girl back then would become this unwavering warrior? Sure, he had known it ever since her preliminaries with Ino Yamanaka. In that respect, Sakura was much as a fighter as Naruto was. Their refusal to never give up was something to be reckoned with. He had all the reasons to expect greatness from Naruto, due to his lineage. But with Sakura, well… besides her genjutsu affinity and smarts there was nothing apparently out of the ordinary with her and her lineage. And in a village filled with clans, each with their own special techniques, that seemed to not count for much.</p>
<p>She was a girl from a civilian family. Not many things were known about the Harunos anyway. They weren’t ninjas at least. For some unknown reason, they stayed away from this path unlike their daughter. And for Sakura to raise herself out of the shadows of anonymity, that was truly something. </p>
<p>He was truly proud of her. But he took no credit for it, as he knew deep down inside of him he had failed Sakura. She had been lucky with Tsunade’s return to the city, that was for sure.</p>
<p>But those were things of the past and now they were all looking towards the future.</p>
<p>“Your advice is much appreciated, Godaime,” Kakashi said bowing his head in gratitude. “I will start the preparations as soon as possible.”<br/>
“You do that, Hatake. Best of luck!” Tsunade said, turning her face to the door and walking towards the exit. “You know where to find me if you need me,” she added as she opened the door and made her way out of the corridors.</p>
<p>Naruto and Sakura wished Kakashi good fortune in his new endeavor and they followed Tsunade in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>The hand’s scan had just finished when Tsunade returned to her file about her grandfather’s cells. Despite being part Senju herself, all of this was new to her as well. Sure, she had met the man and had heard all those tales about him that seemed more like tales of gods and goddesses, but in actual reality? She knew very little about his genetic makeup, because by the time she ended-up being a medical ninja, Hashirama was long gone.</p>
<p>However, since this last war and Madara’s schemes, this had become a top priority for her. Everyone seemed to be after her grandfather’s genes. Even in death, he seemed to not be able to enjoy peace.</p>
<p>And what better way to dwell more on this if not by trying to help others, Naruto especially? Since his last fight with Sasuke Uchiha at the Valley of the End, half of his right arm was missing. And since everyone and their ancestors made it a point in sustaining their bodies with her grandfather’s cells, she thought this would only be fitting for his case, too.</p>
<p>After closely studying the data though, things seemed to go on a good path.</p>
<p>“Naruto, you’ll have to go now to Shizune’s lab to get one more test made to you before attaching you this prosthetic arm,” she informed the youngster. </p>
<p>“From what it seems, you wouldn’t have any problems with having attached my grandfather’s cells to you. It would also seem that they wouldn’t overwhelm you like it happened for example in Danzou’s case. However, we need to be absolutely certain about it. We need to confirm that the chakra production cell ratio between your body and my grandfather’s remains one are equal so that you don’t find yourself overwhelmed by this and his cells to take over.”</p>
<p>Naruto scratched his head in confusion. Those terms were too pretentious for him to understand.</p>
<p>“Naruto, simply put go to Shizune-san, take another test, wait for her to complete the results and get back here with them,” Sakura instructed him, seeing the confusion on his face. When it came to formal terms, Naruto wasn’t what you’d call so book smart. But he was intriguingly smart. Sometimes even she wondered from where it came. He was such a walking paradox at times. But an endearing one nevertheless.</p>
<p>“Aaah, okay Sakura-chan, got it!” he replied grinning while buttoning back his sleeve. </p>
<p>“Well then, I should get going,” he said before Tsunade interrupted him and proceeded with handing him the file so he can take it to Shizune to have it as base comparison data for the examination.</p>
<p>He quickly stormed out of the office, while Sakura and Tsunade remained there.</p>
<p>As Naruto finally left and she had a time off with her master, Sakura couldn’t help but want to unload a bit, after everything that had been happening.<br/>
Sure, Tsunade had been all but your usual confidante, but whenever Sakura needed it, she was someone Sakura could come to.</p>
<p>But she didn’t even start to speak her mind because Tsunade already asked her what was up. She knew the little kid like the palm of her hand. And she knew very well when was the time to clench it into a fist, or be a hand lent for helping. This situation was the latter, as she could see Sakura’s mind was bothered by something.</p>
<p>“What’s on your mind, Sakura?” the master asked. Sakura raised her gaze from the floor, where she had put it, drew a deep breath and started to slowly open up.</p>
<p>“Tsunade-sama… how should I say this? It’s just that…” she said while moving forward towards the desk where Tsunade was seated.</p>
<p>“I don’t even know how to say this but I’m going to try my best,” she continued while seating herself on the chair in front of her master’s desk. </p>
<p>“With everything that has happened in the war… sometimes it all feels too much. I feel so overwhelmed,” Sakura kept going when she closed her eyes and a flash of Madara and Kaguya made its place into her mind’s eye.</p>
<p>“When we fought Madara Uchiha and then that goddess they called Kaguya Otsutsuki,” she kept talking as she felt once more the heaviness she did back when she first encountered them. In the meantime, Tsunade watched her student real closely, her body language, everything.</p>
<p>Sakura was good at keeping it inside of her and focusing on the task at hand. That’s what made her such a good medic. That despite everything else that was going on around her, she had the ability to keep a sharp mind and focus it all on what she had to do. </p>
<p>But this time, the youngster seemed caught by surprise. And Tsunade fully understood that. Having gone through a war was something, but a war that was about to end the world as they knew it, where even godly ninjas appeared? That was a thing in its own league.</p>
<p>Tsunade knew what toll the usual wars took on her, so for Sakura to keep it so level headed up until now given what she had been though, was quite a feat in itself. It was clear that her student needed to unburden herself from all of that, and with the free time she had now, Tsunade was happy to listen.</p>
<p>“I mean sure, I finally awakened Byakugou and I am so happy about that,” Sakura quickly changed the direction of her speech, smiling for a second and touching her forehead, “but it feels like I am once again, walking behind Naruto and Sasuke”, she ended her sentence as her figure turned sad and her gaze started falling to the ground.<br/>
“I mean, like you know master, I always wanted to fight alongside them. To be able to stand my ground on the battlefield and not be protected by them. That happened for the most part of our genin days, and I hated that,” Sakura continued spilling her soul, clenching her fist as Tsunade watched her and remembered in the back of her mind the young girl who took herself to her office and asked to be her apprentice.</p>
<p>But as much as that little girl grew and changed, some things seemed to stay the same. Without even finishing what Sakura had to say, Tsunade guessed what Sakura was about to tell her. But she let her student speak.</p>
<p>Folding her hands and resting her face in them while letting her elbows rest on the desk, Tsunade watched and listened as Sakura continued.<br/>
“In this war, when the Ten Tails started getting loose, I was finally able to be there and fight with them. I was even thinking about you as I joined them,” she told her master as a fond smile found a seat on both her face and her master’s one.</p>
<p>“I was the happiest I could’ve ever been in this life, I swear. But then, all the other things happened, like you know: Madara Uchiha got revived, Naruto almost got killed by him, but thankfully we managed to save him, and then, when Madara initiated the Infinite Tsukuyomi and we thought we escaped him because of Black Zetsu’s betrayal, another one appeared. The one we told you about, Kaguya Otsutsuki.  It was like one thing after another. Not having an end. And it wasn’t even that, but their levels…<br/>
Shishou, I’m telling you, you could literally sense the power of their presence on your bare skin, like a scorching fire. So, so overwhelming...” Sakura left out a big sigh as if she could barely catch a breath in from all the weight of those events.</p>
<p>“I mean, if it wasn’t for Naruto and Sasuke-kun’s techniques, which truth be told seem to be from the realms of the Gods themselves, we would’ve all been doomed.<br/>
I mean I could barely breathe when I first encountered Marada Uchiha, imagine how it felt afterwards when Kaguya came. She felt tenfold stronger than him.<br/>
These weren’t normal ninjas like you and I, Shishou. These were otherworldly beings at this point. Walking gods among mortals. And once again the only ones who could fight were Naruto and Sasuke-kun, while me and Kakashi-sensei stood on the back, doing almost nothing.</p>
<p>How are we even supposed to fight something like that?” She ended her ranting with an ask as a slight sign of desperation could be read on her face.</p>
<p>And wasn’t she right, though? The world had enough problems as it was with a rotten system that made all children go to war when they barely left their parent’s houses to go study about the world. But now this?</p>
<p>How is anyone supposed to fight the worldly and otherworldly problems at the same time? Normal skilled ninjas were already a problem as it was. Enough coups, wars and deaths had happened for such a long time. </p>
<p>But add this on top? How was anyone supposed to fight it? It was hard enough as it was for humans and ninjas fighting each other due to the wretched system in place. But add ninja gods on top of that and the equation already changes from the get-go.</p>
<p>As Tsunade looked Sakura in the eyes as she finished pouring her heart out, she unfolded her hands and took it upon herself to share with Sakura some of her own hidden thoughts. </p>
<p>These were shadows of her own past that somehow Madara Uchiha had also managed to bring back in Tsunade’s mind when she met him.</p>
<p>“I know what you’re saying. Although I didn’t fight that Kaguya Otsutsuki you speak of, I briefly had to fight Madara Uchiha,” Tsunade started unfolding herself to Sakura.<br/>
“I fought him in a truly powerful form, and to hear that he went even higher than that form, I cannot even begin to imagine what you had to go through,” she reassured her student. </p>
<p>And she meant every word of it. Sure, Sakura was a big girl now and she was a great ninja, but such a foe like Madara Uchiha could strike fear in anyone’s spirit, especially for someone with no experience of a war.</p>
<p>So many factors added to her student’s situation that it was a wonder that she even stood there and kept continuing her life normally. After this war, there weren’t many people and ninjas that one could say were living a normal life. This war had left a lot of people physically, mentally and spiritually scarred.</p>
<p>Not to mention Madara had more ways than one to attack a foe. His fighting style also involved a mental component to it.  Because it was well known that when you break an opponent’s spirit, that’s when you’ve won the battle.</p>
<p>She had been at the receiving end of that mental play that Madara had tried with her. As the granddaughter of the great Hashirama Senju there was always this weight that everyone kept above her head. </p>
<p>She was after all the granddaughter of the Hashirama Senju, known all throughout the ninja world for his Mokuton technique and recovery abilities. A walking god among mortals, himself.</p>
<p>It was expected that his successors would inherit such power theirselves, yet… they didn’t. Or she didn’t at least.</p>
<p>Maybe Nawaki would have been the one to do it, but sadly he was taken from this world way to early. He didn’t even get the chance to bud. All that was left was her, but being a woman in such a male dominated field which never took into consideration the casualties of wars and how to reduce them, also took its toll.</p>
<p>Men didn’t think about going to the war and survive back then. They were thinking they are going to the war and they give their life on the battlefield. They rarely thought of nurturing life, because they were too busy to lay it off on the battlefield. Such a stupid way of thinking, she often thought.</p>
<p>One that her younger brother had and got him killed. And for that, she hated the men’s way of thinking and found it in herself to change those ways. It was back then when she vowed to herself that she won’t leave things stay like that and so, she started to look more into recovery ninjutsu. That is how she ended-up wanting to give birth to medical ninjutsu, and the first person who she looked towards was her grandfather and his legacy. His recovery techniques were known all throughout the world.</p>
<p>But that ended-up being a bigger problem than a solution. The frustration, the impotence, the feeling of not being enough. The same feelings that were now experienced by her student before her.</p>
<p>“I know very well the things you’re experiencing right now,” Tsunade told Sakura.</p>
<p> “There was a time when I was in the right same place you are right now,” she added as she recalled her past self.</p>
<p>“Let me tell you a story, one that I have never shared with you until now,” Tsunade said, preparing herself and laying on the back of her seat.</p>
<p>“Since we’re talking of gods and goddesses, I had one in the family, too. One whose techniques even to this day I couldn’t figure out. My grandfather, Hashirama Senju, was one of those people who you can very well call a god.<br/>
People used to say that he was a myth, a legend in itself like the Sage of Six Paths. Here and there were some that even called him the second sage. His power was so tremendous that even the great Uchiha clan feared him. And that includes the very Madara Uchiha you and I have met.”</p>
<p>When Sakura heard that, she couldn’t help but feel a great admiration and amazement. The same foe she had fought a moment in time ago, had feared Hashirama Senju? Sure, like anyone else Sakura knew the general tale about Hashirama Senju, and even a thing or two about his techniques from all that research that she had done besides what Tsunade had made her do. But now, she was about to hear his story from none other than the source of greatness itself.</p>
<p>“So, imagine being a successor of someone with such great power, and having none of it yourself,” Tsunade stated in a bittersweet tone, a face that betrayed slight disappointment and eyebrows raised for a brief moment. It somehow soothed Sakura, as she listened to her master. </p>
<p>She had always considered her this great ninja, and never imagined that her master could have gone through such things herself. But seeing her now like this, it somehow taught Sakura that maybe she isn’t that crazy for feeling that way. Because a symbol of power standing in front of her was also coming from the same place as she was.<br/>
“Even now, my grandfather’s greatness follows me,” she said. </p>
<p>“You know what Madara Uchiha told me? Not only that I am a weak woman, but a weak Senju. And that weak Senjus are ugly,” Tsunade continued while her gaze betrayed a little bit of sadness once more, the same that took over Sakura’s one as she heard the horrendous things her master had to go through at the hands of Madara. What a despicable man he was, Sakura thought to herself with an expression that read wrath on her face, as she listened to her master’s narration.</p>
<p>But then a smirk appeared on Tsunade’s face as she continued telling the story to Sakura “Sure, I proved him wrong and showed him that I am not a weak woman like he so conceitedly stated, but… in one regards he was right.</p>
<p>I was never able to attain my grandfather’s greatness,” Tsunade concluded this part of her speech, as once again her look unveiled a drop of sadness.<br/>
“I mean, look where we are today, still analyzing my grandfather’s cells, so many years after his death. It’s like he became life itself, even after being gone from the world of the living for such a long while.<br/>
All you know about Byakugou is that it’s a medical technique, and sure, now it is one, but you know from where that started? From my very own desire to become like my grandfather.<br/>
The pressure for me to perform was always there.<br/>
I was the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki, so surely, I must hold greatness in me, right? Except that I didn’t and the only reason I ended-up looking into recovery ninjutsu was because of my dead younger brother, Nawaki.<br/>
He died too young, from that stupid pride men have to give their lives on the battlefield, like that makes anyone any good, but anyway, that’s not the point here. The point is, like I said, I ended-up wanting to touch that greatness my grandfather had, to be able to help and protect people.<br/>
But as much as I was a bud sprouted from the legacy of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki, coming anywhere near my grandfather’s level was downright impossible. Not by usual means anyway.<br/>
So, I started searching and searching, more and more how to be able to master recovery jutsu. Sure, I got the basics of it, but that wasn’t enough to save someone from death. I had learned that all too well going through the first war.<br/>
So then, by the time the second war happened, I had already tried to invent a way to bring this recovery technique closer to my grandfather’s levels. At least close, if not the same levels.<br/>
By that time, I had lost most of my precious people, but I still had one left. His name was Dan.<br/>
But the technique wasn’t yet ready when he died in my arms. The usual recovery ninjutsu, which we now call medical ninjutsu wasn’t enough. The first love of my life took his last breath as I tried to stop the blood and life to flow out of him.<br/>
I was unsuccessful,” Tsunade paused for a bit, closing her eyes as she recalled that wretched memory.  </p>
<p>“I couldn’t come anywhere near my grandfather’s skills which were necessary to get remotely close to save someone’s life”, she added.<br/>
Sakura’s heart started aching more and more with every word her master was saying. Thinking at the horrors she went through, and seeing her here, standing now in front of her, Sakura had a newfound respect for her master. She had it forever but now it got strengthened hearing what her master had been through.<br/>
So many losses in her life and she still found the courage to get through all of that. How she even managed that was a question that stumbled in Sakura’s mind as her master told her the story.</p>
<p>“You mean Byakugou, Shishou? The technique...” she asked her master with a pained look. </p>
<p>“No, I mean Creation Rebirth,” Tsunade told her. </p>
<p>“Its predecessor,” she added. </p>
<p>“When you joined me and took an interest in medical ninjutsu, I had already created the restoration technique Creation Rebirth, but given the short duration of such technique, I wanted to take it further, because I wanted to find a way for the technique to work for a longer period of time.<br/>
At first Creation Rebirth was a one-time jutsu. But after studying my grandfather’s technique, I learned that his skills made it so that he would heal his wounds continuously in a fight, no matter how many times he was injured.</p>
<p>In a battle you don’t get hurt just one time and that’s it the enemy walks happy and leaves you alone, so what I knew that Creation Rebirth is a last resort move, but it won’t help you the second time as the necessary chakra to even perform such a technique is huge.</p>
<p>Performing medical ninjutsu requires an enormous amount of chakra, as you know. Creation Rebirth on the other hand…” Tsunade continued her story as she gestured something to strengthen an idea they both knew, anyway. </p>
<p>“Even I, a Senju and Uzumaki descendant wasn’t able to amount to such reserves.<br/>
When I first took an interest in learning more about my grandfather, he was already gone from our world. I only had my grandmother alive, really old and on death bed’s door.<br/>
Upon learning more and more about my grandfather, I came to the conclusion that the chakra reserve levels necessary for a restoration technique of his caliber are absolutely out of this world for any human being. It was then when I started to understand why people would look at my grandfather as if he was a god among mortals. He really seemed as such.<br/>
So, I tried to look for a workaround. Some way that could get me access to that level of healing levels when you don’t have those very levels in your pool.<br/>
That’s when I started to search through the old scrolls filled with a vast knowledge my grandfather and grandmother were keeping in the old Uzumaki compound. It was then when I first learned about a technique called Creation of All Things.”</p>
<p>Sakura’s interest peaked when she heard the name of the technique, so she couldn’t help but ask her master about it. What was such a technique, anyway? It sounded so fancy and old, and eerily similar to Creation Rebirth. Surely there had to be a connection.</p>
<p>“Yes, Creation Rebirth is based on Creation of All Things. It’s an old jutsu from the times of the Sage of Six Paths himself”, Tsunade answered Sakura. Upon hearing that name, Sakura couldn’t help but be triggered by a memory of the war. She had met the legend face to face.</p>
<p>He was as old as time itself, or so the saying was. So, what was the connection between that technique and her master’s one?</p>
<p>“Creation of All Things was based on Yin and Yang chakra molded together. Imagination that creates physical form from nothingness with the help of the spiritual energy of the Yin principle and breathing life into being with the vitality aspect of the Yang principle”, Tsunade said as she started explaining to Sakura the basics of how she came to invent Creation Rebirth.</p>
<p>“So, I figured that at the basics of a restoration technique, there should be something similar, because this is the principle of life itself being born. It’s like the creation of all life itself. But for such a technique to even happen, one would need extreme amounts of chakra to use and a mind that doesn’t falter. Sharper than any razor out there.<br/>
I tried somehow using Creation of All Things myself, but I just couldn’t.<br/>
I didn’t have the necessary levels of chakra to do so, sadly. The curse of my grandfather’s levels of power once again followed me.<br/>
I figured that this surely would’ve been the technique he would use for his restoration technique or something very similar in nature, but he was a powerhouse.<br/>
I was just a failed predecessor. So, for a while, I gave-up”, Tsunade concluded that part of her tale.</p>
<p>When Sakura heard that she couldn’t help but once again feel the bond with her teacher strengthen even more than before. It was like with every new side of her master’s story she could see herself in it. </p>
<p>“But you didn’t give-up for good, right Shishou? After all, we’re here! And Byakugou works very much like Hashirama-donno’s technique now, which means…” </p>
<p>“Of course, I didn’t give-up for good!” Tsunade responded to Sakura with a grin. </p>
<p>“Remember what I told you when you first set foot in my office? That I won’t go easy on you. And I taught you later that what it takes to be a medical ninja is the ability to never give-up, most of all.”</p>
<p>“I do remember,” Sakura smiled fondly at the memory of that time. </p>
<p>Taking a quick mind tour since then until now, she couldn’t help but feel a tad bit proud of herself. That’s when the eagerness to know more hit her so she asked her master to continue her story of how she managed to do it after all.</p>
<p>“It was thanks to my grandmother, Mito Uzumaki,” Tsunade said. Upon hearing that name again, Sakura couldn’t help but wonder if there would be a connection between Naruto and her. At least the names were similar. But… that would be another thing for another time.</p>
<p>“She was the one who helped me find a workaround so I can invent Creation Rebirth,” Sakura’s master continued. </p>
<p>A warm smile appeared on the blonde woman’s face as she remembered her grandmother. Sure, the world knew mostly her grandfather, but little did it know that the reason he ended-up being so strong was because of Mito’s great support.</p>
<p>She had been a reserved woman, not meddling in business that weren’t hers and focused on the things she could change. Stoic like a high mountain, but warm like the sun shining on one, from the first day Tsunade knew her to the last.</p>
<p>“It’s thanks to her that I was able to gather enough chakra that was necessary to come-up with the jutsu,” Tsunade stated when Sakura interrupted her out with a remark of her own.</p>
<p>“Basically, to come-up with a container so one can gather enough chakra necessary to mold such a technique, right Shishou?”</p>
<p>“Yes, that’s right. My grandmother’s seal was the container for a very important spirit back in the day,” Tsunade told Sakura as she once again folded her hands and rested her face in them, watching Sakura straight in the eyes, knowing that what she was about to tell the student would very much surprise her, being that this wasn’t a fact known to many. </p>
<p>“That’s where she contained the demon fox,” she told her, knowing very well the connections that her student was about to make.</p>
<p>Sakura’s eyes widened in amazement. The Kyubi, Yin seal, Creation of All Things, Creation Rebirth... All this seemed so much info to take onto.<br/>
Sure, she learned the technicalities of Byakugo and was able to attain it based on what her master made her to study, but she never thought there would be so much history behind such a jutsu. </p>
<p>“It was also thanks to that seal that I was able to finally get a contract and summon Katsuyu,” Tsunade said. “You well know that to summon Katsuyu, the seal is a prerequisite, otherwise there’s no chance in the world she can be summoned, and the reason why that is.”</p>
<p>Sakura’s mind instantly started to make connections over connections as she heard her master speak, but for the moment this was too much trivia for her mind to process. She’d have to think about all of this in silence, later on.</p>
<p>But then she recalled that Naruto’s seal looked different and that’s where he had Kurama stored, so how did Mito Uzumaki stored Kurama inside the Yin Seal to begin with? This was just one of the many questions that started roaming inside of Sakura’s mind.</p>
<p>“So yes, in the end I was able to come-up with a way to mimic my grandfather’s technique” Tsunade continued.</p>
<p>“However, there was one problem with it. The drawbacks of that jutsu. And you know them very well”. </p>
<p>Sakura nodded, being reminded of the fact that for as much as Byakugou made them impossible to kill in battle, the price one has to pay is quite grandiose. </p>
<p>“Yes, I do. We have to pay with our own life to even make use of such a technique…” Sakura responded to her master, being slightly saddened at the thought of that.<br/>
Sure, her master was still a descendant of two great clans, but her? She was nothing more than a girl coming from a civilian clan with no special ability. If only she could’ve had something special about her…</p>
<p>“Yes, that is the one issue with the jutsu I couldn’t solve up until now. For as much as I managed to create something similar to my grandfather’s technique based on Creation of All Things, I still couldn’t get past this impediment.</p>
<p>Creation of All Things makes use of Yang chakra, but I have no such affinity for that. Yang chakra has been a mystery to us all. So then, the only way I could mimic the effects was to make use of the body’s own vitality, and push it to heal itself by cell division, like you know.<br/>
But we’re only human at the end of the day and our life is bound to end someday. Cells can only divide for so long before it becomes… well you know what it becomes.<br/>
And in our case, using such jutsu only means that our lives will end sooner rather than later,” Tsunade concluded her story.</p>
<p>Both master and student sighed in unison as the fact of that reality hit them. </p>
<p>All the answers seemed to lay in Hashirama Senju’s technique but how can you find the answers when the person in cause is dead, yet his vitality still lingers years after his passing into non-existence?</p>
<p>Still, Tsunade found it in her to take out a smile and look towards her student.</p>
<p>“I don’t know if I will be able to find the answer to this matter. I’ve tried it for years now with no success.<br/>
Yet, I still feel that the answer lies somewhere in my grandfather’s remains, but with neither him, nor my grandmother around, that seems near too impossible to solve.<br/>
It was hard enough when one of them lived. Took me so many years to come-up with all of this, so who knows how many it would take to finally understand everything?” </p>
<p>As Sakura heard those words coming from her master’s mouth, she couldn’t help but feel the heaviness of the situation. How can one manage to do this? To find the answer to an impossible question? Yet somehow, she felt it was necessary to do so if medical ninjutsu were to be evolved to the next level. But for now, she had no answer. Her master didn’t and she had so much experience behind her, how could she, a simple student, have one?</p>
<p>Tsunade got up from her chair and went to the window waving her hand at Sakura to follow her, as the pink haired girl complied.</p>
<p>When Sakura got in front of her, Tsunade's face painted a big grin on her face as she looked at Sakura.</p>
<p>“Sadly, I don’t have the answer to this dilemma right now, as I told you. But I have hope that you will. No, cut that, not hope. I have full faith that you will definitely do it!<br/>
If you came forth in the war, managing to finally awaken Byakugou and summon Katsuyu on the battlefield, you will definitely find a way to solve the mystery to these godly powers.<br/>
After all, you, a human, fought a god itself, didn’t you?” Tsunade told Sakura as she patted her head. Sakura was quick to try and interrupt her, telling her master that it was mostly Naruto and Sasuke that did the job, but Tsunde interrupted her back immediately.</p>
<p>“And who lent the final punch that made it possible for those two idiots to seal her, eh?” Tsunade asked, not allowing her student to get down on herself.</p>
<p>“You have a strong spirit inside you, Sakura!” she continued, “I’m sure that one day you’ll find the solution to all of these problems. But it will be a path you must take yourself. I’ve taught you all that I’ve known up until now, so maybe now it is time for me to give the mantle to you. So you can find your own path.<br/>
And I’m sure that you will, and you’ll even surpass me. That strong spirit and determination got you where you are here, today, didn’t it?”</p>
<p>Sakura couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride hearing her master’s words, yet she still wasn’t convinced enough of that fact. Not after what she had witnessed once again in the war.</p>
<p>“But Shishou, I’m merely me, a simple girl, with no respectable clan background to uphold me. How can I even…” compete was what Sakura was about to ask but Tsunade wasn’t having any of it. </p>
<p>“I might have had a little luck being a descendant of Uzumaki and Senju to be able to create Creation Rebirth and then develop it up to Byakugou. </p>
<p>Sure, I was nowhere near my grandfather’s level, but a slightly larger pool than the average helped me get where I am thanks to what I told you.</p>
<p>But you and your knack for chakra, your understanding of it and efficiency in using it, is already surpassing mine. Stop putting yourself down and give yourself some credit, eh?” the blonde told her student with a warm smile on her face as she took her hand off Sakura’s head.</p>
<p>A thank you with a big grin soon followed as Sakura took in all of Tsunade’s praise, which was so rare. But she knew that when receiving praise from Tsunade you really did well, as she wasn’t a woman of free praises. No, you had to earn it. With hard work, sweat and perfection, or else you were getting none of it.</p>
<p>And that’s what made Sakura work so hard for all that she got. Because to her, getting the praise of someone so respectable meant that she at least did something well as a ninja.</p>
<p>Their time of confessions ended as soon as Naruto entered the office once again with the results from Shizune. </p>
<p>The news were good: Naruto was compatible with Hashirama’s cells which means the prosthetic arm she was preparing was going to be working.<br/>
“Prepare for tomorrow, then!” Tsunade commanded. </p>
<p>“We’re gonna attach the prosthetic arm to you and from now on you’ll be able to use ninjutsu again. Next time, don’t be that stupid, though!” she warned him referring to the battle he had with Uchiha Sasuke.</p>
<p>Naruto’s bring grin made an appearance on his face as his over excitedness took hold of him, jumping around and messing a thing or two in the office. It wasn’t long until Sakura brought him back to earth again.</p>
<p>“You stupid!” Sakura shouted as she cleaned the mess after him, a little pissed at his ever-present negligence when he got excited. </p>
<p>“Stop messing around things! Not to mention, didn’t you have somewhere to be today?” she asked as Naruto’s face got clueless.</p>
<p>“Hinata, you idiot!” she bumped him. “You’re supposed to go check and see if there’s anything else she needs for Neji’s one-week burial ceremony all of us Konoha eleven talked about doing by ourselves, remember? So, stop messing around and go!” Sakura pushed him towards the door and after she rearranged all the dossiers and reports that Naruto had messed-up earlier on Tsunade’s desk.</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah…!” Naruto said straightening his figure, and getting a more serious approach. “Well, I’m off to Hinata’s now, see you two another time!” he saluted both while leaving for the door.</p>
<p>“Don’t forget you have to be here tomorrow morning for the arm, Naruto!” Tsunade shouted as Naruto got out the door.</p>
<p>“You idiot…!” Sakura mumbled to herself with a bitter sweet smile that followed her soon after, watching him as he got out of that door.</p>
<p>Tsunade couldn’t help but notice the subtle tension that had just happened in the room. That packed with the fact that for all the discussion her student forgot to mention what had happened to Sasuke Uchiha who was also supposed to get his arm fixed, and the fact that Sakura excused herself soon after that scene strengthened her belief in what she had just seen even more.</p>
<p>“My mom will scold me once again if my room isn’t cleaned spotless,” she said with one her her trademark fake smiles when she wanted to avoid a certain situation. She had some thoughts she wanted to shrug off her mind, as this was already a busier day than what she had envisioned it to be.</p>
<p>“Sure, go ahead and do what you have to do, you’re dismissed!” Tsunade responded knowing very well what Sakura was hiding under that smile. She had had a tough time today, so any more weight on her shoulders wasn’t needed.</p>
<p>But she couldn’t help to be reminded of a certain scene she had seen in the past, when she first came to Konoha.</p>
<p>Only that this time around, it was the other way. The one smiling bittersweet now was Sakura instead of Naruto.</p>
<p>She thought to herself how times had truly changed since she was in Konoha. How newer ones were about to commence and who knows what they would bring forth.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Helplessness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kaika Saisei Chapter 3 has finally arrived, everyone! Following the events of its predecessor, this chapter sets to jumpstart another important part in Sakura Haruno’s plot.</p>
<p>Back when Naruto ran, we all wished we could see more of the heroine’s background, isn’t it? But as Kishimoto was saying in his interview with Kobayashi back when the series ended, he gave-up that idea due to popularity reasons.</p>
<p>Like many other Sakura Haruno fans I was very disappointed when I found this out. It’s like he gave up on her.</p>
<p>Why give up on your own heroine? In what world does an author do that with the heroine of its own story? Truth be told, I wish Kishimoto would’ve had more backbone than what he had. Because the story was there, the mechanics, the symbolism… everything! Everything was pointing towards Sakura’s development.</p>
<p>But eh, he didn’t, so why dwell on the past right?</p>
<p>That’s why I took it upon me to develop that side of the heroine with this story. Because as I said, Kaika Saisei will be mainly about Sakura Haruno first and foremost. And Kaika Saisei chapter 3 is here to stand proof of this even more.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her steps walked her to her house as she lost herself in a myriad of thoughts connected to all the things she had been through over the course of the day. </p>
<p>Everything that was happening around her seemed to be at peace, though. </p>
<p>A new phase in everyone’s life, yet for some reason her new beginning felt like a shackle of the past.</p>
<p>She tried to not let it bother her as much as it did, because now this new phase in everyone’s lives was supposed to bring an end to all the wrongful things of that time. </p>
<p>Yet for her, something was still lingering.</p>
<p>It wasn’t long until she got back to her house, wrapped in all her thoughts. Sakura got up the stairs, opened the door, entered and saluted her parents.</p>
<p>“I’m home!” She announced, as she took off her boots and put them on the left side of the entrance like she always used to. </p>
<p> “Come now, Sakura! Dinner is almost ready!” Mebuki shouted from the kitchen. </p>
<p>Upon hearing her mother’s call, Sakura headed towards where her parents were, realizing that a lot of time had passed since it was already dinner time. </p>
<p>After leaving Tsunade’s office she told herself she would take a short walk to try and clear her mind for a bit, especially after the talk with her master. But as it seemed, the short walk wasn’t actually that short as she had envisioned.<br/>Heading towards the kitchen, she saw her mother preparing the table for them to eat, while her dad was reading once again a paper. She couldn’t exactly tell what was it what he was reading, but she couldn’t be bothered to find out at the moment.<br/>It would be probably something frivolous, anyway, since those things seemed to always be his source of inspiration for jokes.</p>
<p>Sometimes to her it looked like he never takes anything seriously, which bothered her to no end, but she had a lot of things on her plate right now, thinking about that particular thing right now wouldn’t help her case.<br/>So she just ignored it.</p>
<p>While she sat there at the table, with a somewhat absent figure, her mom couldn’t help but notice that, so she tried to break the ice.</p>
<p>“Soo, what’s up with you again? Did you get scolded by Tsunade for not properly arranging the books you keep studying from again nicely on their shelves?” Mebuki asked in her usual joking but stinging you way.</p>
<p>“Mom!” Sakura immediately snapped back, frowning at her. </p>
<p>It didn’t take long for Kizashi to interfere, being very much aware of the dynamic between his daughter and his wife. </p>
<p>These two were two ticking bombs that for some reason were always on each other’s backs.</p>
<p>“Now, now Sakura…” Kizashi addressed his daughter in a slow tone. </p>
<p>“You know how your mother likes to tease you about these little things”, he continued before being interrupted by Mebuki again while she was headed with the plates filled with food towards the table where they were all sitting.</p>
<p>“It’s not a tease if it’s the truth!” Mebuki continued her husband’s sentence, as she put the plates on the table and pushed them in front of Sakura and Kizashi, then turned around to get the last plate of food. Hers.</p>
<p>Sakura rolled her eyes at her mother and took a napkin next to her so she could start eating, not before giving thanks for the meal, as she held it inside of her not to reply to her mother.</p>
<p>She wasn’t going to have any of it today, so she decided to just ignore it.</p>
<p>They ate in a somewhat awkward silence with her dad trying to crack a joke or two, but Sakura kept being lost in her thoughts.</p>
<p>Both Kizashi and Mebuki observed that aspect of their daughter’s behavior, so they once again tried to break the silence and ask her what was it that bothered her mind. </p>
<p>It wasn’t like the daughter they knew. </p>
<p>The Sakura they knew would have immediately backfired at them for pestering her so much like she had done earlier at her mother’s remark, but instead this Sakura wasn’t. Something was clearly bothering her.</p>
<p>Sure, she had just come back from a war and they were thanking the Heavens for her safe return. But ever since then, she had been a bit different.</p>
<p>They weren’t exactly sure how to deal with all of this, so they decided to act like their normal selves, in the hope that maybe this will help Sakura reintegrate in her old, normal life. It was their way of supporting her.</p>
<p>But for some reason, it didn’t feel that way for Sakura. What the horrors of war had made her see, took a toll on her. As much as she, herself wasn’t realizing, it was starting to be clear for the ones around her.</p>
<p>Kizashi finally broke the ice and asked his daughter if she was okay.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I am,” Sakura responded passively to her father. But both him and her mother could see that wasn’t exactly the truth, as much as she wanted to hide it behind her all-known fake smile.</p>
<p>“And that’s a lie and you know it!” Mebuki confronted her as she watched her daughter directly in the eyes. </p>
<p>Mebuki knew her daughter like the palm of her hands. </p>
<p>Sure, being Sakura’s mother was never easy because the girl seemed to have a stubborn spirit that never listened, and a mind that too easily ran away from her problems and tried to hide it behind a smile or behind a facade of acting as if she’s not being too interested.</p>
<p>But she had raised the girl, she bore her inside her womb for nine months, and it was yet a few years too early for Sakura Haruno to be able to lie to her face like that.</p>
<p>Sakura once again rolled her eyes and replied in a dull manner, trying to avoid the subject as she wasn’t really in the mood for it now. </p>
<p>The discussion she had with Tsunade and the thoughts about the gods that she had met in the war was still lingering inside of her. That, and a thought more, one that she was suppressing without realizing. Or without actually wanting to.</p>
<p>“No, it’s not. It’s just… boring stuff work,” she added while finishing the last piece of her meal, preparing to gather the plate and the tableware to get them to the kitchen in order to keep avoiding her mother’s gaze and commentary.</p>
<p>“Well, tell us about your boring work stuff! We’d love to hear it, you know we do!” Kizashi replied shortly after.</p>
<p>“Did Naruto do something stupid again and over exerted himself once more and you had to smack some sense into him?” he asked in a joking manner, knowing all too well her daughter’s stories about her knucklehead of a colleague who always goes too far and she has to deal with the consequences again.</p>
<p>The numbers of times Sakura got back home and complained about her blonde colleague had been quite numerous. </p>
<p>If you would ask him, that complaining of hers looked like something else, but it wasn’t his business to deal with anyway.</p>
<p>When Sakura heard the name as she was standing up in front of the table where they were dining, preparing to go and leave her plate in the kitchen sink, she froze for a bit at her father’s question.</p>
<p>“Eh?” She asked confused as she turned her gaze in her father’s direction. Right before she did that, a quick flash passed through her mind’s eye with Naruto's cold body on Gaara’s sand back in the war. But she was quick to brush it away and replied to her father's question in the end.</p>
<p>“Aaah, noo, he’s fine, he’s fine”, she said waving her hand in dismissal to try to diffuse the situation, as she continued her road towards the kitchen sink.</p>
<p>“Sure, he’s the same idiot like he’s ever been. But he’s a fine idiot!” she concluded. </p>
<p>“I mean, the idiot is fine!” She quickly corrected herself at the realization of what she had just said, in the context of knowing her father and how he’s always there, ready to crack a joke if he gets even the slightest of chances. Especially when it’s something language related. He always had a thing for language related puns.</p>
<p>So she just wanted to make sure she doesn’t give her dad any of the chances he needed to crack one. </p>
<p>“No need to worry about him”, Sakura said as she put the plate in the sink. With her back turned at her parents, her face expression changed and a serious expression encompassed her face.</p>
<p>“Then are you really going to tell us what’s wrong or are you going to keep pretending all’s sun and daisies?” Mebuki asked once again as Sakura was preparing to get back to the table.</p>
<p>Sakura could feel the tension slowly building up. She was trying so much to avoid this. Oh, she was. But on all gods and goddesses, her mother was making it hard. Really, really hard.</p>
<p>Mebuki wanted to continue to say that they might have not been the experts in the room, but they could definitely tell something was wrong, when they heard the sound of other kitchen utensils aggressively being dropped in the sink, above the plate she had just left there a few moments ago.</p>
<p>Sakura turned around and faced her parents.</p>
<p>Both mother and daughter locked looks on each other and it wasn’t long until Sakura just exploded.</p>
<p>“You know what? You really aren’t. Experts, I mean! You have no idea how consuming it is out there. How hard it is to be a shinobi. And not even that, to be a medical one!</p>
<p>To have to make sure at each step that you’re the support everyone that battles in front of you needs. To make sure you’re on time so that a comrade doesn’t die on you.</p>
<p>Or when someone is brought to you on their deathbed, and you have to make sure you keep your cool so that he doesn’t die while in your care because he always pushes himself like an idiot who doesn’t think about himself!” Sakura started rambling and gesturing around, while her left hand clenched into a fist and her face slowly became wrapped in horror as she got reminded of the things she had been through in the war, and tears slowly built up on the corners of her eyes.</p>
<p>Kizashi immediately raised an eyebrow hearing her last words as if a certain detail from Sakura’s rambling caught his interest. His intuition didn’t falter, he thought to himself while continuing to listen to his daughter. </p>
<p>“And not only that, but above it all, to have to fight literal ninja gods. Gods!” Sakura repeated the word that made clear her underlying feeling of helplessness when she thought about it. “When you barely make it so you can finally be able to fight other ninjas, after a lifetime of being just a kunoichi with no special abilities, in a class of colleagues all from elite clans.</p>
<p>No, you’re not experts! You have no idea how that is, because you’ve always been satisfied with this normal and boring life that brings absolutely no satisfaction. </p>
<p>You never had any ambition to exceed your status and to take responsibilities beyond your capabilities so you can improve yourselves!” she ended her rambling in a raised voice, borderline screaming.</p>
<p>On the other side of the room, once she heard the words Mebuki got up from the chair, filled with anger at her daughter’s words. She had always been somewhat cheeky, but this time it was taking it too far.</p>
<p>All they were trying to do was to be supportive of her and this is what they get? How dare she?</p>
<p>“Ooh, so you think that just because you’re a ninja you can lecture us about how we should’ve lived our lives?” Mebuki backfired on her daughter as her tone too, started to sound aggressive and soon started to sound more like yelling than anything else. </p>
<p>If these two would have something in common, it would be their capacity to explode instantly. And that’s something Kizashi knew best, living with both of them for such a long time.</p>
<p>“Are you under the impression that being a ninja gives you status? That this is all that a human being should strive for in life? How dare you speak to us, your parents, like that? How dare you question our life choices?” Mebuki questioned Sakura as her anger levels kept rising and she could feel a vein on her head slowly getting almost to explode.</p>
<p>“If it wouldn’t have been for us you wouldn’t have existed in the first place! You think that just being a normal family is something to look down upon? You think that raising a child is just a play? Are you under the impression that being a ninja and having status is something above a normal human life in this world? That’s how you view life? What kind of medical ninja are you if you think so low about human life? Is this why you became a medical ninja? For status? Eh, Sakura? Is it?” Mebuki continued asking, but by this time she was already downright yelling at Sakura. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing from her daughter’s mouth.</p>
<p>It was one thing that she’d complain about simple house chores because she would prefer to study more than to do those, which she had no problem in doing as long as Sakura did study. But this? This was exceeding some limits of common sense. Even if she had been through a war. </p>
<p>She had tried to be as understanding as possible with her daughter, because indeed, they hadn’t had the experience Sakura did. One of war. They had been just simple civilians that minded their lives. But that didn’t give Sakura any right to speak like that, as much as she was in pain. </p>
<p>Plus, Mebuki hasn’t been a woman to just take in her daughter’s banter. </p>
<p>That was not a dynamic she would accept from her. </p>
<p>She was the mother, Sakura was the daughter. Not the way around. </p>
<p>Some limits had to be respected. As much as she loved her dear daughter. </p>
<p>Sure, maybe she hadn’t been so expressive about it or not how Sakura would have wanted her to be, especially when Sakura had the tendency to daydream and Mebuki had to bring her feet back on the grounded reality.</p>
<p>But she figured she’d rather be like that and raise a strong spirited child in a world that was hard as it was, rather than leave her daydream and when the dreams would get broken like glass because the world wasn’t all sunshine and daisies, she’d succumb her mind into darkness.</p>
<p>So yeah, maybe not the most preferred parenting method, but one that would surely raise a strong child. </p>
<p>But right now? Right now, things had gone too far. Way too far.</p>
<p>“Go to your room right now young lady, before this gets even uglier! I’m warning you!” Mebuki told Sakura pointing her index finger in her daughter’s direction.</p>
<p>“And while you’re there, think about what kind of person you want to be and stop putting the responsibilities of your choices on my and your father’s back! </p>
<p>You made your choice to become a shinobi. It’s you who gets to live with the consequences of your actions and life. Not us! This has nothing to do with me or your father. Got it?</p>
<p>How dare you? Shame on you!” Mebuki ended the yelling session as she changed the direction of her pointing towards her daughter’s room.</p>
<p>Sakura stormed out from the living room to her dorm immediately, not before screaming one more time that she would go in her room because her parents wouldn’t understand her anyway, so why bother?</p>
<p>She stepped on the stairs heavily so that one could hear her steps from a mile away, and as soon as she ended-up in her room, she slammed the door so hard that had her she added a little bit more pressure to that, the room could’ve very well required a new door in place. If not a new house altogether.</p>
<p>She threw herself over the bed and started crying loudly into her pillow to somehow cover the sound.</p>
<p>On the other side of the house, Mebuki and Kizashi were preparing to wrap-up the whole dinner table, while Mebuki was trembling due to what had happened earlier. </p>
<p>Mebuki had the intention to do it herself with all the anger she had inside her, but Kizashi took his wife’s hand and gestured towards her to sit down, that this time it’s him the one who’s going to do it.</p>
<p>“You rest for now, let me do it,” he addressed her in a soft tone, gazing at his wife with warm eyes.</p>
<p>While Kizashi took the rest of the plates and everything there was on the table from the living room to the kitchen, Mebuki sighed hard and looked at her husband.</p>
<p>“Good grief, that child of ours…” she said followed by some heavy breathing as she looked in the direction of the stairs Sakura had just gone up earlier.<br/>Kizashi returned to his wife and sat next to her.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, she’ll come around. She still has that young blood in her that makes her talk before she actually thinks things through,” he reassured Mebuki. </p>
<p>“Sounds very much like someone we both know, doesn’t it?” He teased her a bit, in order to diffuse the situation.</p>
<p>“Oh, don't you get me started, too!” Mebuki warned him. She knew that all her husband was trying to do was to lighten-up the situation, but she didn’t have the mood for it at that very moment.</p>
<p>“Plus, that big mouth of hers comes from you, not me! I’m not the one chit-chatting all day long, unable to shut my mouth,” she continued.</p>
<p>“Well, she might have my big mouth, but she has your stubbornness and fire, so if you want to blame it on someone for that, well, my lovely lady you might want to take a look in the mirror”, Kizashi responded to his wife.<br/>They had always been like this. Passionate about each other and bickering with one another at any chance they got. </p>
<p>After their short bickering Kizashi paused and looked his wife in the eyes once more, coming back to the subject of their daughter, addressing her outrage from earlier.<br/>He asked her once more to be patient with their daughter as she had just returned from a war. It surely must’ve put a toll on her. </p>
<p>And Mebuki wasn’t disagreeing with him, it was just that she considered that it still didn’t give their daughter the right to act like that. <br/>Kizashi agreed with his wife in that respect, but he still asked her to give their daughter a second chance.</p>
<p>“Who knows how many horrors she witnessed in this war?” He said to her. </p>
<p>Mebuki saw herself agreeing once more to her husband, but still there was a thought that couldn’t give her any peace of mind.</p>
<p>“I know that, but what more can I do for her? I can’t magically make things happen. I did all that I could for her. All that we were and we had we poured into her. What more could we do for her? What more can I do for her?” She asked continuously while talking to her husband.</p>
<p>“Well, there’s always going to be the love we poured into her. And I am sure that one day she’ll understand it, too. And that one day, that’ll be enough for her, as a person,” Kizashi reassured his wife.</p>
<p>“But what about as a shinobi, eh?” She asked, looking him straight in the eyes. She knew very well that it was that specific thing that always bothered her daughter the most. </p>
<p>Kizashi’s eyes fell to the ground for a moment after which they moved back up, looking at Mebuki once again.</p>
<p>“We come from another place, and you know that. In that respect, I’m afraid there’s nothing more we can do about it. Plus, I think it’s for the better this way. I’d rather live this normal, boring life like our young daughter says, than having to watch over my back at all times. </p>
<p>That isn’t life, and we both agreed that we want to live a rather simple and happy one, didn’t we?” Kizashi asked while his look continued to fixate on Mebuki.</p>
<p>Mebuki puffed and gestured at her husband, moving her eyes from her husband towards the window, as if she just wanted to lose herself in the moment.</p>
<p>She knew very well what her husband meant, but being there and listening to her daughter’s words made her wonder sometimes if their choice was the right one, as now it seemed to backfire.</p>
<p>Kizashi knew very well that look of hers and knew what it meant, it was something that their daughter had taken from her mother, only that a tad bit too much. This slight desire to just block everything and lose oneself in their own mind, so that the word outside stops interrupting the one inside. </p>
<p>So he gently grabbed her chin and looked her once more in the eyes addressing what he told himself would be the last words to address this matter.</p>
<p>“My dear, we both know that ours isn’t a way fit for a ninja. Even if our daughter chose this path,” he concluded as both of them looked each other in the eyes, knowing very well the meaning behind those words.</p>
<p>At the end of it all, they hugged each other after which Mebuki said she’d go finish washing the dishes, while Kizashi told her he’d go upstairs to prepare the bed, as night time had slowly started to cover them all.</p>
<p><strong>__________</strong>
</p><hr/>
<p>On the other side of the house, a worn-out Sakura changed in her pajamas as night time approached and just laid around in bed, encompassed by several thoughts that roamed her mind given the day filled by all the events that had happened: Sasuke leaving Konoha, her discussion with Naruto, her talk with her master and her fight with her parents.</p>
<p>For a moment, it seemed like all the intensity possible just packed itself in a whole day and how could that even be bearable? </p>
<p>It sometimes felt easier doing her job than having to deal with these emotional situations. </p>
<p>Because that was her. She had always been moved to tears, like Naruto always said. </p>
<p>But it was something she couldn’t help. She had this sensitivity of hers which no matter how much she had trained with Tsunade to polish it and stop being too touched by certain situations every time, she couldn’t help.<br/>Even her fight with her mom and dad had now started a stream of tears that were uncontrollable. </p>
<p>Sure, somewhere in the back of her mind her master’s words ringed hope, but the other side of her mind couldn’t stop asking itself if she was really going to make it.</p>
<p>If her master, who she had the utmost respect for, hadn't found the answer to this pressing matter, how is she, a simple girl from a no-name clan going to do it? </p>
<p>There wasn’t anything about her background there to be able to offer her answers, like it had been in her master’s case. She wasn’t from a well-renown clan like Sasuke, Ino, Hinata and the others were, who could’ve helped with at least pointing her towards a certain direction, given the eons of heritage of clan knowledge.</p>
<p>No, she was Sakura Haruno. A kunoichi with no special ability. </p>
<p>Or at least those were the thoughts in her mind at the moment, disregarding very much the accomplishments that she had managed to acquire until now.</p>
<p>All that there was at that point were just tears and troubled waters in her mind. She soon cried herself to sleep, earlier than she even intended to.</p>
<p>Usually, she would read a book or play some trivia games before bed, as for some reason those would be what her mind needed to put itself to sleep, but this time? This time her worn soul put her to sleep faster.</p>
<p>Lost on the land of dreams, she looked so peaceful, but it didn’t take long until her breathing started to accelerate as she kept moving from one side of the bed to the other. </p>
<p>Something inside her dreamscape was clearly bothering her. Inside there, flashes of a dead body on a sand.</p>
<p>Her heart rate increased and you could clearly notice it in her breathing if you were to observe her in her sleep.</p>
<p>
  <i>“Quick, there’s not much time to lose!” the voice in her dream commanded. “You have to save him otherwise he’s going to die!”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>But everything around was dark. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She looked to her right and to her left and asked who she must save, but no one answered her. Then, suddenly a dead Naruto on a piece of sand stood before her.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Naruto, no!” she screamed as she started the medical treatment. But suddenly, her chakra disappeared. Her medical ninjutsu vanished. She couldn’t help in any way.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Then darkness covered all her dreamscape once again. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Naruto was no more, just distant voices mumbling some sounds back in the distance where she couldn’t decipher what they were saying.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>She looked desperately to the right and left for Naruto, but he was nowhere to be found.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Where is he? Where is Naruto?” She asked yelling. But no one replied to her. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“WHERE IS HE?” She screamed in the darkness as echoes of her despairing outcry repeated itself over and over again.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Then, suddenly Naruto’s dead body appeared in front of her. Colder than the depths of the sea itself. She checked his vital signs, and there was no response. Quickly after, she started the compressions on his chest, while tears flowed on her cheeks.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“No, no, no, no, no! You’re not allowed to die on me, you hear me? </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>No, you’re strong! You hear me, Naruto? You’re strong, come back!” she called him in her dream, but he wouldn’t wake-up.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Come on, wake-up. You’ve got a hat to wear. A coat to dress. You can finally fulfill your stupid dream. You have to, come on, Naruto!” she pleaded to him in despair, between tears and hard breathing and the continued pressing on his heart.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Come on, Naruto. Remember? Remember how you promised yourself and the world you’re going to become Hokage? You’re not a guy who goes back on his own word, right? You never give-up! </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>So please... Please, don’t do it now!” she begged with a shaking voice due to the tears that were flooding her. But no matter what, Naruto wouldn’t come back to life.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Naruto… No! Please no… Nooo!”,</i>
</p>
<p>Sakura found herself screaming out of sleep, when she realized that it had just been all a bad dream. Sweat was pouring down her face, and her heart was pumping so fast. She didn’t even want to know her pulse rate at that very moment. </p>
<p>But realizing now that it had all been a dream, she found it in herself to just try and relax, as the reality in front of her eyes was another.</p>
<p>The war had ended. Naruto was alive and well. His dream realization was getting closer and she had absolutely no reason to worry about that. Right?</p>
<p>But for some reason she couldn’t help it with one thought she couldn’t get rid of. Especially after that dream. That of her medical ninjutsu not working.</p>
<p>This thought quickly spiraled her into another series of thoughts. Helplessness once again engulfed her like it had done in the fight with her parents from earlier. </p>
<p>“Why does it always have to be like this?” She asked herself thinking about the fact that as soon as she had touched a threshold of power, as soon as something else bigger than her capacities made its appearance. It felt like she couldn’t catch a break.</p>
<p>And on top of that, there’s no way her parents could help in any way. If the others had their parents to help them with a new technique or something like that, for her, things were different.</p>
<p>There was no one she could turn to because simply put, those weren’t who her parents were. And the knowledge her master had, she had shared it with her already. There was no one else she could turn to.</p>
<p>Sure, her mother’s words had resounded a bit on the back of her head and she realized that she had messed-up in what she had wanted to express. </p>
<p>Her frustration had gotten the best of her and when that happened Sakura Haruno wasn’t the best at expressing emotions properly. </p>
<p>If things would be as easy as only punching one’s way out of a situation, things would be so much easier… Or smiling your way out. Depending.</p>
<p>But they weren’t like that. Things weren’t so easy. It was just that it was so frustrating to not be able to do more than that.</p>
<p>Speaking of more, her train of thought spiraled her even more downward… Since she was on the chapter of not being from a ninja clan so you can get help, she remembered Hinata’s actions back when Pein had attacked the village, or when Neji had died.</p>
<p>Unlike her, the Hyugas were renowned as one of the most powerful clans in Konoha. Thanks to their top-notch vision, Hinata was able to see when Naruto had been taken out by Pein. Or in the war, her clan was pivotal in defending Naruto.</p>
<p>There was so much Hinata could do for Naruto, compared to her. What did she ever do, anyway? Heal him? Even that at times felt redundant because Naruto always had the ability to heal himself. So what was her healing good for, anyway? For nothing.</p>
<p>It wasn’t then, and it surely wasn’t afterwards when Madara and Kaguya appeared, she thought. Especially reminiscing the time when Kurama had been extracted from Naruto and was brought to her.</p>
<p>Her medical ninjutsu did absolutely nothing. It didn’t stop Naruto from dying. </p>
<p>“Why isn’t it ever enough?” she questioned as tears once again made themselves at home in the corners of her eyes, while she caressed her forehead where the seal was placed.</p>
<p>“Even now…” she said. “Why? Why does it always have to be like this?” she kept wondering with no response that followed. </p>
<p>“What am I ever to do if Heavens forbid Naruto ever finds himself in a situation like this?” she kept pondering over the thought. </p>
<p>Sure, the war had ended and the ninja world seemed to be at peace, but that wasn’t reason enough for Sakura’s over thinking mind. </p>
<p>That mind had to have a back-up solution for every possible situation, and for some reason, now she couldn’t find one and it absolutely frustrated her to no end.</p>
<p>So instead of sleeping, there she was, puzzling about worries that her mind made-up.</p>
<p>With all this mess and the inability to sleep, Sakura knew that all she needed would be a cup of tea to warm her up and relax her muscles, so she could go back to sleep. </p>
<p>Both her body and her mind’s one. </p>
<p>So she took herself out of the bed, took a robe over her pajamas, and went downstairs to pour herself some water for a cup of tea.</p>
<p>When she arrived downstairs, being so lost in her train of thoughts, she didn’t quite observe from the get go some candles being lit.</p>
<p>She just went towards the kitchen like a little robot, given that she could very well be walking around there with her eyes closed. That’s how used she was with every corner of her house.</p>
<p>Those memorization muscles weren’t just for the sake of being there. They were actually working at all times.</p>
<p>When she got to the kitchen, she found her dad sitting at the table with a cup of hot tea next to him. </p>
<p>Her initial response translated as widened eyes and a desire to kind of back down, feeling guilty over their encounter earlier.</p>
<p>“I prepared this for you,” Kizashi said, pushing the cup of tea in her daughter’s direction. </p>
<p>How would he know? Did he just happen to be there or he had heard her screaming earlier? Either way, it wasn’t exactly a situation she would have wanted to go through right now.</p>
<p>Sakura’s heart felt heavy for a moment and tears once again slowly started building up on the corners of her eyes. Too much emotional sensitivity was building up inside of her, being reminded on top of everything once again of what she had said earlier in the confrontation.</p>
<p>She clenched her fist and her face turned to the ground. She felt shame.</p>
<p>So, she started to apologize when Kizashi quickly interrupted her and said there’s nothing to apologize about.</p>
<p>“I know you didn’t mean those words, now, did you, Sakura?” Kizashi told his daughter in a reassuring way.</p>
<p>“Come now, take a seat here next to your funny old dad and rest your feet,” he extended the invitation to her daughter, while gesturing and pulling one of the chairs next to him, waiting for Sakura to join in.</p>
<p>She raised her face from the ground and slowly walked to the table.</p>
<p>“We don’t want us to start on the wrong foot again now, do we?” he winked at his daughter smiling, mildly proud of his little word play joke.</p>
<p>Sakura couldn’t help but snort a bit when she heard her dad’s joke. She sat next to him and they were now facing each other.</p>
<p>“Now, tell me, child, what is it that truly torments you?” Kizashi asked in a mellow tone and a warm look on his face.</p>
<p>It wasn’t easy for her to talk about this, especially with her parents since she felt like they couldn’t understand her, but she thought she owed them at least this after their fight from earlier tonight.</p>
<p>“It’s just... Work. And the war. And the new threats out there. I had to fight literal Gods, dad!” </p>
<p>Kizashi’s look switched to a more focused instance when hearing that her daughter had to fight gods. But, he didn’t want to interrupt her, so he didn’t interfere.</p>
<p>“It’s just so overwhelming because…” Sakura paused for a bit, not being certain how to put this out there, the matter of her parents’ lack of ninja skills, since the last time it didn’t go off so well.</p>
<p>“Well, I don’t have special skills like all my peers”, she managed to say, passing swiftly through the moment that could’ve ended awkwardly again.</p>
<p>“And when you’re in a war, that’s hard. I mean, sure, I ended-up being a medic ninja, at least there was something that I could do. And yes, in the end I managed to somehow surpass this limit, and be a fighter medical ninja thanks to what Tsunade-sama taught me. I could finally be able to fight on the battlefield, and not just be on the backlines, healing people. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I love doing that, but I’ve always wanted to be able to fight like my peers.</p>
<p>And when I finally managed to do that, to acquire that skill to be able to fight head-to-head any other human shinobi like me, guess what happened? Ninja gods happened.</p>
<p>Ninja gods, dad!” she repeated with pathos in her voice, as to emphasize even more the seriousness of the matter.</p>
<p> “They even got Naruto killed at some point…” Sakura continued to confess to her father.</p>
<p>A little smile appeared on the corner of Kizashi’s lips as he heard the name. </p>
<p>He knew it that it was more to her being bothered than what she initially had told them. The stories of her idiot friend had been many, and although they weren’t just about him, as they were a team, there was something in the way his daughter narrated the stories of her teammates that made Naruto stand-out. </p>
<p>Even if she didn’t realize it, and even if most of them were filled more with little tales about her other colleague. The Sasuke kid. The survivor from the Uchiha clan.</p>
<p>Speaking of him, it didn’t last long when he, too, was brought-up in the discussion when Sakura told him that one of the two gods she was speaking about, had thrown her teammate in another dimension.</p>
<p>And in the heat of the discussion and in connection to the feelings of helplessness she was feeling, Sakura couldn’t help but feel a bit sad, being reminded of Sasuke’s words when he had said there was nothing she could do, when Kaguya attacked them.<br/>But she left that aside. It wouldn’t help now anyway.</p>
<p>Out of courtesy, Kizashi asked how Sasuke was doing since the whole village had heard about his involvement in the war and also, the time he had served.</p>
<p>“Uhm… about that, well, he just left Konoha today,” Sakura responded to her father, a little embarrassed thinking about what she had asked him, so she brushed it off quickly and jumped back into the discussion they were having earlier, telling her father she didn’t want for them to get sidetracked. </p>
<p>“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that… how am I even supposed to fight something like that, dad?” </p>
<p>Kizashi felt the heaviness of her daughter’s words as if he was the one living it. </p>
<p>Sure, he didn’t truly ever live something like that, but the pain of one’s child is felt twice by the parent.</p>
<p>It’s the pain of the child itself and the pain that you’re seeing your child suffer. A curse that one had to live with after becoming a parent.</p>
<p>But, at the same time there was nothing more blissful in the world than that. </p>
<p>He had felt it on his own skin when his little cherry blossom had been born. </p>
<p>Given how the things that were now, he found it in himself to try to be a beacon of solace to his daughter.</p>
<p>“But, isn’t the war ready, though? Didn’t they say the threat has been sealed now? I mean, that’s what I remember from the news…’ Kizashi told Sakura, in an attempt to calm her spirit.</p>
<p> “Well, yes… In theory, that’s correct. Plus, there’s the ninja alliance so now war among nations should stop since we’re all allies now,” Sakura replied to Kizashi.</p>
<p>“But, what do I know? How can we be sure that all it’s going to be nice and dandy from now on? Who’s to say that future threats wouldn’t come-out? I mean, we had a surprise one at the end of the war…” Sakura told her father.</p>
<p>“No one saw that coming. We were all prepared to confront Madara Uchiha when Otsutsuki Kaguya made her appearance out of nowhere and we had to fight her”, she continued telling her father.</p>
<p>“Otsutsuki Kaguya?” Kizashi asked his daughter.</p>
<p>“Yeah, why do you ask?” Sakura returned the question to her father, being a bit surprised that out of all the things, her dad had asked about that particular thing.</p>
<p>“Oh nothing, just making sure I follow the thread of events,” Kizashi quickly replied to her.</p>
<p>She sipped a bit of tea before continuing her storytelling to her father, while Kizashi followed her through it all. </p>
<p>It was clear that his daughter was feeling a heavy burden on her shoulders, so when she was done with all that she had to say, Kizashi drew breath and told her warmly that he has absolute faith in her.</p>
<p>“You already are a great ninja, my dear! Sure, you might not come from an elite background like your peers and I am sorry we couldn’t give that to you. But you must learn how to trust yourself more, little cherry,” Kizashi warmly addressed his daughter.</p>
<p>Sakura once again felt a bit embarrassed at her earlier tantrum given how her father was treating her now. Maybe she should’ve been less aggressive was what she was thinking right now. It felt like she didn’t deserve the warm encouragement she was receiving from him.</p>
<p>“Always remember, you have a strong spirit inside of you. One that’s able to go toe to toe to your intense mother.  If you can do that, I’m sure you can manage anyone that comes into your path,” he reassured her jokingly, referencing in a subtle way the dynamic between Sakura and Mebuki.</p>
<p>“Otsutsuki Kaguya or what’s her name hasn’t yet met Sakura Haruno at her full power after a fight with her mother! If she would, that would definitely teach her a lesson or two,” Kizashi encouraged his daughter one more in a joking tone.</p>
<p>Upon hearing those words, Sakura couldn’t help but crack a smile. At the end of the day, her father was right as any conversation with her mother felt at times more intense than any other battle she had been through.</p>
<p>They both ended-up laughing at Kizashi’s little remark.</p>
<p>“Thank you, dad!” Sakura said looking warmly at her father. Meantime she got up from her chair soon after that. It was time to go back to sleep now.</p>
<p>She took her tea with her and excused herself as she headed back to the room.</p>
<p>Kizashi nodded and smiled at his daughter, as he watched her leave. He too, left the dining room and went back to his, as soon as he heard Sakura’s door closing-up.</p>
<p><strong>__________</strong>
</p><hr/>
<p>Upon going back to her room Sakura thought about her dad’s words and day overall. His words reminded her of Tsunade’s ones and for a moment, she felt a bit more relieved. </p>
<p>But there was still something that was bothering her mind, now that she had talked to her dad.</p>
<p>Because indeed, what would be if a new threat would appear? She couldn’t shake this feeling off. </p>
<p>And what would she do if Naruto would be so pivotal to it again, like it was in the previous war? And with a medical ninjutsu that couldn’t work wonders on the brink of death, she needed to find another solution. </p>
<p>She quickly searched her mind’s drawers for memories or something that could offer her a solution, but she couldn’t find much. All she recalled were two instances. </p>
<p>The one with old lady Chiyo when she exchanged her life for Gaara’s and then the Pein revival situation, back when he had attacked Konoha. </p>
<p>But, that realization or solution, however one would like to look at it, didn’t help her much. Because those techniques would mean one thing: she’d have to trade her life.</p>
<p>And she wouldn’t have any problem with that but then, how could she make sure she’d be next to her dear friend and supporting him? How would she serve all the others as a medic ninja if she had to die? Medical ninjas were to die last on their platoon. </p>
<p>That idea was out of the question, as well. Her dying wasn’t an option because Naruto surely would need help afterwards. Who else to smack some sense into his dense self when he’s overexerting himself?</p>
<p>Nah, that wasn’t a solution. She would have to find something else.</p>
<p>Something more feasible.</p>
<p>After all, she had a discussion with Tsunade earlier that day talking about how the very reason she developed medical ninjutsu was so human lives wouldn’t be lost.</p>
<p>She’d have to go against that very principle. But yet, tensei ninjutsu seemed to hold some answers. That and Byakugou itself. She could feel it like there was something there, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.</p>
<p>As she thought about all those connections, she found it in herself to just go back to her master’s office in the morning and ask her some more questions. She would surely know a thing or two related to that.</p>
<p>Maybe she would get more leads starting from there. Yeah, it surely had to be.</p>
<p>It wasn't much, but it was something. A starting point. </p>
<p>For now, she could finally relax. And so, determination quickly returned to Sakura’s spirit, which helped her to relax and fall asleep soundly. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, on the other side of the house, Kizashi too, returned to his room. When he tried to get back in bed without having to wake Mebuki up, he was surprised when she questioned him if their daughter was okay.</p>
<p>“She is now,” Kizashi replied dryly. What an unusual thing coming from him. No joke to crack, no dismissal as nothing important? Nah, this wasn’t the usual.</p>
<p>There was that particular aspect in his tone that Mebuki couldn’t help but notice. He should’ve been okay, but there was something about him that wasn’t.</p>
<p>“What’s the problem, then?” she asked.</p>
<p>Kizashi took a deep breath as he prepared to answer his wife.</p>
<p>“Otsutsuki Kaguya!” he replied in a serious tone, as his look darkened.</p>
<p>Mebuki’s eyes then widened in disbelief upon hearing that name. </p>
<p>After so many years, this name comes into their life? It hadn’t come-up at all until now. </p>
<p>And they hoped it would remain as such, aeons after their death and even their daughters’ one. </p>
<p>But fate had other plans...</p>
<p>“What?” Mebuki asked whispering, in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe she was hearing that name.</p>
<p>Kizashi comforted his wife, telling her that this wasn’t the moment to talk about that. Tomorrow would be another day for them. One where they could talk about this. </p>
<p>Now it was already too late, and it was time to go to sleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The future past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Everyone has their own path to walk. But when you don't know where yours started, what do you do? Where do you go? What trails you follow?<br/>Another character starts their journey of self-discovery.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello everyone!<br/>Sorry for being late with this month's Kaika Saisei. It's been crazy this month.<br/>But here I am at last.<br/>This time, the POV switches a bit to other characters. <br/>Like always, for anyone who wishes to view the storybook format, you can find it on my blog on chatte-georgiana.com.<br/>Other than that, all I can say is enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She rolled her gloves up towards the middle of her arm. After that, she took on her vest and zipped it all up to her neck. Put some of her belongings in the bag that was sitting on the side of what used to be her old bed, placed on the left hand side of the room, from where a small light came. It was from a candle on the wall in front of her. </p><p>Before wrapping everything up, she looked around the room one more time. </p><p>At the thought of everything she had lived inside these walls, she couldn’t help but breathe out a quiet sigh. </p><p>However, no matter the reason, she couldn’t stay here anymore. There was nothing for her here, so why bother? There wasn’t anything to tie her to this place like it used to do some time ago in the past. Her reason was now gone. Not to mention, she kind of had it enough with everything that had happened. She had lived for others too much. It was time to start living for herself.</p><p>Speaking of that, she recalled there was one more object she needed to pack with her, so she went to the desk that was sitting parallel to her bed, pulled out its drawer and took a picture from there, underneath its fake bottom. </p><p>It was her and a female figure. The only memory she had of that person. She didn’t remember much of her, or the times they had spent together so that is why that belonging was safely hidden away. It was her only real connection to herself and her past. Well, at least whatever she recalled of it anyway.</p><p>After she had met him and he picked her up from the middle of a war torn area, she had forgotten most about her previous life. All she remembers is the impending feeling of danger that was about to approach her, and few vague details. But there wasn’t any real backwards connection to them.</p><p>Back then, she knew they were coming… but what could a child do facing the terrors of war itself, especially after you run into the only place you know as safe, only to find that it’s gone? When the arms of that person are supposed to be that safe place for you, are all but covered in blood?</p><p>The only other thing she remembers was that woman full of blood all over, while gesturing one last thing, as she still found it within her to smile one more time: the palm falling from her forehead to the cheek, mumbling one last thing as she left a trail of blood on the child facing her, who had looked for safety in her arms. </p><p>“You don’t need to remember all of this… Go! Run from here. Run for your life!” were the last words she heard the woman speak before her mind started going blank about all the past they lived together. All the memories she remained with was a scene she was a witness to, her own name and the connection with the then dead woman in front of her: her mother.</p><p>But why were they there? How did they get there to begin with, why did she have to run for her life or any other question that would make one question their past? Gone. Like they had never even existed.</p><p>So all she did was exactly as she was told… left the place. Ran for her life, like she had been instructed. But not before taking a small bag with her and a picture from the furniture next to the dead woman’s body. For some reason the little girl back then felt the need to do that before leaving the horrendous place she found herself in, from where she had to run.</p><p>And as she ran as fast and as far as possible, until he appeared. </p><p>Took her in. Offered her some kind of safe space. And today they were here.</p><p>Those memories hit Karin as she prepared to say her farewell to the place that for better or for worse was her home for a long time. She put the picture in the bag and took it with her, as she headed towards Orochimaru’s room for one last goodbye.<br/>She was never too attached to him anyway. She didn’t like the feelings she got from his chakra, but having nowhere to go, she followed him for all that time. </p><p>She wanted to leave two times over the course of her staying with him. The second time when she was ready to leave, she found out that the boy who had smiled so fondly to her in the forest where Orochimaru sent her for those ninja exams, was joining them. </p><p>So she decided to postpone that decision. Again. But why? Well, it was for a simple reason. At least to her.</p><p>Because his smile from back then reminded her of the last smile from that person. Her mother. Oftentimes she even wondered if it was really her mother to begin with. Given her memories of that time were next to non-existent, at times it was hard to tell reality from fiction. Was it all in her head, that smile? But it was a smile from their last moments as she got urged to leave, and that was real. So the smile must have been real too, right?</p><p>But for better or for worse, she then had someone with the same smile to keep her connected to that reality. </p><p>And that’s what made her stay. So she could see that smile one more time. So that she can remain connected to those memories, until she would lose those as well. Because who can tell, right? Today they were there, but who guarantees for tomorrow? <br/>As those thoughts flooded her mind, she left the room and started walking towards Orochimaru’s one. </p><p>It wasn’t long until she saw herself at his door. She knocked firmly before asking for permission to come in.</p><p>“Yes, please. Do enter!” said the voice behind the door.</p><p>“Orochimaru-sama, it’s me,” she said as she opened the door to his room and started walking in. If it was one thing she had done whenever coming in contact with him was addressing him as Orochimaru-sama. Not because she had so much respect for him, given the bad sense she got from his chakra, but she found out that this was the best course of action when dealing with someone like him. </p><p>Hypocrite? Maybe. By the rules of those oh-so-holier-than-thou. But when you have to live next to what can be your next attacker every day, and you have nowhere else to go, you must find ways to make sure you survive. <br/>And the role of subservient Karin seemed to be one that would fit her best when it came to their relationship.</p><p>But under all that duplicity, she was a free soul, one that could not be chained. Yes, the choice was hers. But it was a choice she decided to make if she were ever to leave him in the future.<br/>When you have to live with the snakes, you have to know the songs to play to make them hiss to your will. </p><p>“What is it, Karin?” he asked curiously, analyzing every detail of the girl in front of him. New hair style with braids on a side, dressed like she was about to go out and a confidence in her eyes he had never seen before.<br/>That, plus a backpack. She was leaving. But where? He couldn’t help but wonder.</p><p>“I’m here to say goodbye,” Karin told him confidently. “But before that, I would like to have a talk with you, Orochimaru-sama.”</p><p>So he was right. She was leaving. What an interesting turn of events. He would’ve liked to get to know some things about her better, especially after the things that had transpired in the last war. Karin awakening the chains that Uzumaki Kushina had was something he was looking forward to studying more about. But he wasn’t in a position where he could force her to stay, so he decided to listen.</p><p> “And how may I help you?” Orochimaru asked simply, but underneath that simplicity many things could hide. </p><p>“I am here to let you know that I have decided to leave this place. However, before I leave I want you to help me understand some things about myself,” she informed the man as she gestured towards herself. </p><p>“I can’t even remember how old I was when you saved me from that war-torn zone. That village where it always wept. Or is it? Can’t exactly remember for sure, but that’s not the point now”, she started talking.</p><p>“As you know, there are many things I don’t remember about my past. But somehow you seem to know more. You always did for some reason unknown to me,” she continued as she watched the snake straight in the eye. Even now his chakra transmitted a sinister feeling somewhere behind all that facade he was trying to hold. So it was really a situation of mixed feelings coming from him.</p><p>He had said to that Tsunade lady in the war that he was a changed man, but there was something about his chakra that Karin could feel, that made her question that statement. </p><p>So what she was about to ask him was a gamble on its own, but she had to do it. She could tell if he were to lie or not, at the end of the day.</p><p>All she had to do was to focus on his chakra flow and sense if there was any disturbance to it, while getting the answers she was looking for.</p><p>“So I’ll have to ask you,” she said, “do you know any reason for which I awakened that power in the war? And more importantly, is it connected to something from my past?” Karin asked dead-serious.</p><p>For some reason she had the feeling that it was so. Many times Orochimaru had told her when he did all those experiments on her that she’s a special child, and that he needs to understand from where that comes so he could ‘help’ her. But she never had the courage to actually ask what was so special about her. </p><p>Moreover, at some point she stopped caring anyway. Her specialty fell somewhere in the background as soon as Sasuke Uchiha had come into play.</p><p>Her and all the other special kids fell second best to him. And with all those things going around her, not to mention the tasks that Orochimaru ended giving away to each of them, she decided to stop asking anyway. Not to mention, when you’re in charge of running an entire hideout of experimental lab rats, you kind of tend to forget about yourself. </p><p>There wasn’t much of her own self to begin with, anyway. She was everyone and no one. Everyone Orochimaru needed her to be, and no one, given that unlike many others she lacked the roots. The bonds. The connection. To her past. Who she was or who she was supposed to be. So when something like that happens, it’s hard to keep a sense of self.</p><p>She had been a war torn kid. A lab rat herself. The one in charge of the other lab rats. She had been a fountain of healing for all those other lab rats, biting off her body so that once more they can fight under Orochimaru’s commands.<br/>She’s been anything others wanted her to be. Until that time. Until the time she met Sasuke Uchiha. And she had hope that one day, in his smile which reminded her of that person, she would find a sense of self again.<br/>So that’s why she dedicated herself to helping him. Because in a way she was helping herself. Not to mention, he looked past her atypical self. Instead of judgement, she found acceptance.<br/>Even more so, she was desired. By him. That is why when he came seeking her back then, she accepted it.</p><p>That, plus the little devil was so damn hot. The charm, the smarts, the unapologetic way to be himself. She always found that attractive about him. In contrast to her own identity issues, he was just the thing she needed.<br/>Back then, she thought that by going on around the world with him would somehow also help her find some answers. The fact that it was with him was an added bonus, of course. Or at least that’s what she liked to think. Two birds in one shot.<br/>But then, at the end of the day even that thing proved out to be something that cost the very life out of her. </p><p>Sure, he then apologized and damn him, she forgave him! She didn’t want to, on one side, but on the other she did. She was like the air that the fire needs to consume in order to breathe. His warmth attracted her, but in order to get to it, she had to let herself be consumed by him.</p><p>And she did, and then she forgave him. But, at the end of the day he remained detained in Konoha. That meant that he also got close to his old team, and probably that pink-haired girl she had once met. Sakura.<br/>So then she thought to hell with everything. He was back where he was meant to, anyway. </p><p>It had been a wrong move on her part to tie her identity to him. At the end of the day, putting aside all the hotness that defined him, and that smile of his which she loved, it cost her too much.<br/>It was now time for her to do everything for herself. </p><p>To define her identity through her own actions, not tie it to others. Because while yes, she wished for bonds with others, and with him most of all, those bonds or better said wanna-be ones, only brought her pain and suffering.</p><p>And for that, she decided to leave it all behind. Sasuke, her old life with Orochimaru, and everything else that connected her to that past.</p><p>Everything but that. Her past with her mother. She felt that if she really wants to have a future, she must find out more about that particular part of her past. </p><p>That is why, she was now standing in front of Orochimaru unapologetically herself, and was asking for answers. And she would not take no for an answer. No matter what it would take.</p><p>Orochimaru thought this through and through before replying to Karin. He knew she was a sensor and lying to her wouldn’t work at all. Her sensory abilities were the reason Sasuke picked her as his favorite in the first place. He might not have been there to see it, but while being inside of Kabuto who conspired in the war with Tobi, helped him find a thing or two about all the things that happened to Sasuke Uchiha after he was killed by him.</p><p>Lucky for him, he was a cold blooded snake and could think this coldly. But replying to her would set-up his chakra in motion one way or the other. And in the end she would figure it out.</p><p>For a brief moment he thought back at when he had found her. A little girl, running for her life in the same place where many children remained orphans due to a war-torn era.<br/>It felt almost ironic that he would find her in the same place where Jiraiya used to find his first students.</p><p>Of course, he wasn’t sure from the very first time that she was an Uzumaki, but thanks to the experiments he conducted, he later found out. It was a hunch, after all. Being an initial Akatsuki member had its use. After all, Nagato, Jiraiya’s first pupil turned out to be one. And by his words, there were quite a few Uzumaki clan people in Rain village. </p><p>So putting two and two together was easy. That, packed with the fact that the girl seemed to not remember anything concerning her past beyond her recent memory, was an even better deal than he expected. An experiment he could use to his own volition, that would have less impacting consequences anyway.</p><p>That was one of the reasons he had sent her in the chuunin exams back in the day. If she were to be captured, they would have no use for her because what can you do with a child that recalls nothing of their past? <br/>In the end, she proved to be one tool almost too good to be true.</p><p>The right thing he needed to grab onto Sasuke’s sharingan. Because his frail body has always been his Achilles heel when it came to his quest if finding everything about all the jutsus in the world and their origin. But when you have someone with the vitality of an Uzumaki body, no matter the power you’re trying to behold and its weight, their vitality could endure it.</p><p>Something he had found out while studying all the jutsus in the world. So she was the perfect fit.</p><p>But his Sasuke mission ended-up being a total fail, as Sasuke’s past caught-up with his future and turned out to be the right thing the Uchiha kid needed to kill him. The irony of it all…</p><p>Now, he was standing in front of another irony. Another past seemed to catch-up to the future, as he was standing now in front of Karin.</p><p>But ah, he was a changed man now. And not fully recovered, so it wasn’t like he could force Karin to stay. The look in her eyes didn’t look like that of someone who’s willing to do it. </p><p>Sure, it would’ve been nice to understand more about her and the newly awakened power. That of the chains only Uzumaki Kushina possessed. After all, he suspected it from back then, after confirming she was an Uzumaki. That and a little research he had to do about the Uzumakis revealed some interesting things about the girl’s past, too. But now he seemed to be out of luck in that regard also.</p><p>So then, taking all those things into consideration, he decided to answer her question.</p><p>“I may not have all the answers to your questions, and there’s nothing I know about your past more than you know yourself,” Orochimaru started speaking, keeping his posture.<br/>“But what I do know and the thing I can answer you is that I know of what heritage you’re a part of”, he ended his initial response.</p><p>Karin’s eyes widened and got filled with hope as he heard the man speaking. It was like finally a small flicker of hope was coming her way as well.<br/>“What about my heritage?” she asked immediately, filled with impatience. </p><p>“You’re part of a long gone clan, called the Uzumaki,” Orochimaru replied. Hearing that name Karin’s mind made a connection instantly. </p><p>“An Uzumaki…? That means I am related to that guy?” she asked herself as flashes of Naruto Uzumaki’s face, who she had met at the Kage Summit, went through her mind. </p><p>Orochimaru caught the little expression change on Karin’s face and smirked in his old fashioned way, intuiting well where her mind went. He kept his cool and continued talking.</p><p>“Yes, that’s correct Karin. You could say you’re a distant-relative to Naruto Uzumaki,” Orochimaru confirmed her suspicions.</p><p>“His mother’s name is Kushina Uzumaki,” he added. “She was part of the same clan as you are,” he continued.</p><p>Karin immediately felt like hope was filling her soul as finally, there was someone else out there she could connect her with. She instantly thought that he must be the next person she meets. They would have so much to talk about. He surely must know so many things about their clan, right?</p><p>But until she would meet Naruto Uzumaki, Orochimaru was in front of her, so he could suffice for now.</p><p>“She was?” Karin asked, taking notice of the tense Orochimaru used. </p><p>“Why isn’t she anymore? What happened?” Karin questioned him curiously while maintaining her focus on Orochimaru’s chakra flow. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.</p><p>The disturbance was normal. He wasn’t lying. But her excitement from earlier might have cost her a bit of attention. After all, this was Orochimaru she was talking to, the cold blooded snake. That’s why whenever having to deal with him, one should focus as twice as much.</p><p>“She’s dead,” he replied in his cold usual way. </p><p>“They all are,” he continued looking her straight in the eye to see each and every reaction of Karin’s.</p><p>“They were all massacred many years ago in the past,” he informed Karin without changing his cold stare, as he saw hers betraying a look of horror. Her earlier flicker of hope now turned into what you could call a bit of faith loss.<br/>But wait, there was this Uzumaki boy out there so he surely must know some things. </p><p>All hope wasn’t really lost, Karin tried telling herself as she felt the strong feeling starting to cripple her soul. This wasn’t going to be an easy task now, wasn’t it? </p><p>“Well then, I will go and look for this Uzumaki boy,” she told Orochimaru confidently.</p><p>“He surely must know something, right? Didn’t they all live in Konoha?” she asked.</p><p>“Well, first of all, they weren’t living in Konoha, but in Uzushiogakure. A village in the Land of Eddies,” Orochimaru told Karin to clear the confusion.<br/>“But the village is all in ruins now,” he continued informing her. </p><p>“All that there is left of them is nothing but the story of their former greatness”, he ended his sentence as he shrugged his arms.</p><p>A former clan which was now gone, and everything there was to know about them was a former glory, that she knew nothing about. Ruins. All destroyed. All forgotten. Like her past. </p><p>Karin got saddened for a moment and let her guard down. Was it really worth it? To go outside in the world and look for everything. But then as this went through her mind, she realized something… How did Orochimaru know all of this after all? For a long gone clan, he surely knew a lot. So she came back to her senses and asked him about it.</p><p>“Well, let’s say my former teacher forced me to learn about their history even though I wasn’t really keen on it,” he said, as he remembered his battle with Sandaime. </p><p>The old geezer still had some fight in him and using that wretched sealing technique, the Dead Demon Consuming seal, had pushed him to dig everything about it. And that is how he ended-up learning more about the Uzumaki than he might have initially planned to.</p><p>Well, in the end it was all for the better, wasn’t it?</p><p>“And then does that mean that this power I got is related to them?” Karin continued with the lines of questioning. For some reason, she felt like there was something more to the story. </p><p>Orochimaru felt like this line of questioning is getting more and more deeper and he wasn’t yet sure if he wanted to reveal everything or not. But once again, this was Karin he was talking about. It wasn’t like he could purposely hide things from her anyway.</p><p>He had to find a way to get out of this line of questioning before it would be too late for her to find all the reasons he had and the things he once had planned to do.</p><p>Damn it all, if only his body wouldn’t be so weakened now. </p><p>“Most probably,” he replied, figuring that omission of truth is technically not a lie. You just don’t reveal everything. So you’re telling the truth without actually telling the truth. Thus, his chakra flow should’ve been stable for Karin not to notice anything out. <br/>One bullet dodged for now. How many more were to come anyway? That’s when Oro decided to play it the other way around. Instead of letting Karin take the charge, make the recommendations himself. That way he’d be in control of the situation instead of being at Karin’s whims. </p><p>“Karin,” he addressed her before she addressed him to turn the tides of the conversation. “If you’re so eager to leave this place, why don’t you go research a bit yourself? In many ways your guess is as good as mine,” he said once again making use of the tactic of omission of truth to go past Karin’s ‘lie detecting’ self.</p><p>“There aren’t many things known about the Uzumakis. I just had interest in one specific technique given that my former master forced me to it, like I told you. But, that helped me uncover some places of the Uzumakis” he continued. </p><p>“I could tell you where those places are,” Orochimaru concluded while gazing at Karin in his astute way. This must surely spark an interest inside her and deflect the attention from that.</p><p>And he was right, as Karin fell right into it. Her eyes widened and filled with hope as she heard Orochimaru’s proposal. </p><p>“Of course, tell me where!” she demanded with excitement and determination in her voice.<br/>Finally, something good to start with was the thought that immediately went through her head.</p><p>Orochimaru gladly replied to her that one of those places is the Uzumaki compound outside the outskirts of Konoha. That and the old ruins of Uzushiogakure. But who knows if anything was there anyway? So the next best thing would definitely be the Uzumaki compound.</p><p>He indicated the area to her by reminding her of the place they met when she escaped the Konoha prison back in the war. </p><p>For a moment there, she recalled that specific moment as being one of the moments she was ever going to see Sasuke, before the whole mess that happened in the war.<br/>But she shrugged the thought off. There were better things to think about now. More important than that. </p><p>So she thanked Orochimaru and filled with new hope and with a new-found resolve, she took herself out of his room, heading towards the exit of the hideout.<br/>Finally letting go of these dark, cold stoned places for good. </p><p>She continued to walk so confident towards the exit that she didn’t even notice when Suigetsu came from the corner and they head butted strongly into one another.</p><p>“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Karin yelled at Suigetsu, being visibly bothered that someone was in her way towards discovering more about the new her. Or old her. It was a weird mix anyway. But the excitement she felt was so big, that she didn’t want anyone or anything to stay in her way. </p><p>“I could say the same thing about you,” Suigetsu replied to Karin after regaining his balance and composure. Karin sure had a big head. No wonder from where her stubbornness came…</p><p>But as soon as he was back on understanding the world around him, he couldn’t help but notice Karin being all dressed-up and with a backpack.</p><p>“Leaving somewhere, are we?” Suigetsu asked as he gestured around at her new outfit, in his usual bickering way. </p><p>“Yes, I am!” Karin responded confidently moving past him to continue her road towards the exit.</p><p>She didn’t leave Suigetsu time to answer any more questions as she was quickly to dismiss him, informing the guy that it was none of his business.</p><p>“Going after Sasuke, then?” Suigetsu asked as Karin wanted to continue her road. He couldn’t help but tease her about it. It has always been her soft spot. Her trigger.</p><p>Karin stopped for a moment. Turned to face Suigetsu and replied with an unseen serenity up until now. Something that had Suigetsu taken aback.</p><p>“No. I’m actually not going after Sasuke,” she informed him. “Like I would care what that idiot does! There’s nothing I can do for him anymore. He has to deal with his past, I have to deal with mine,” she concluded, having her look slowly facing down to the ground.</p><p>Sure, a small part of her wished that she could’ve seen him one last time before having to flee the battleground given their interference with the war.</p><p>Sure, they did some stuff that helped tilt the balance maybe in a more favorable way, but due to their affiliations, it wasn’t a good idea to still stick around. </p><p>Did it mean leaving Sasuke behind? It sure did in a way. But he was a war hero. An integral part in winning it. </p><p>They were the misfits. The unknown. No match for such a resounding name as the Uchihas. </p><p>Plus, Sasuke had sacrificed her before and while she forgave him and would’ve wanted to be there next to him after the war ended, it wasn’t the best course of action.</p><p>Even she knew as much. So she had to make a tough choice. And she chose herself. </p><p>“Are you sure about that?” Suigetsu asked teasingly, knowing Karin’s feelings for the man too damn well. She might’ve not wanted to admit it to herself, but he was witness to a certain moment in her past related to Sasuke, so no matter how much she wanted to hide it, there was still something there for him.</p><p>However, she did seem changed, so that had him intrigued. What was all this talk about the past? What did exactly she mean by it?</p><p>“Yes, I am.” Karin replied absolutely serious. “I have better things to take care off, for now. Like my own self,” she continued before returning the questioning to Suigetsu.</p><p>He was looking pretty different himself. New attire, and was heading towards the same place she was. Orochimaru’s room.</p><p>Was he going to leave, too? It surely seemed like it and it didn’t take long for him to confirm it either that it was in fact the place where he was going, too.</p><p>“You’re leaving as well?” she asked, “where exactly are you going?”</p><p>“Well, I’m off to finishing that sword collection of mine,” Suigetsu said, shrugging easily. He was a man with a mission for a long time. It was now time to finish that mission once and for all. He just wanted out of respect to inform Orochimaru. Like he had said anyway, they weren’t Hebi anymore. But they weren’t Taka anymore either, so… it was time for each and every one of them to choose a path. </p><p>Karin made her choice first, and Suigetsu was second. Which made her realize… but what about Juugo? So she asked Suigetsu immediately about his whereabouts.</p><p>“Have you talked to him? What does he want to do?” Karin asked curiously.</p><p>“I did, actually,” Suigetsu replied, “he wants to stay with Orochimaru,” was the next thing he added.</p><p>“With Kimmimaro dead for a long time, and Sasuke not being around, he fears his powers going berserk once again. So he considers that his best chance of survival without hurting anyone else is to stay with Orochimaru”, Suigetsu concluded once again shrugging.</p><p>“I see…” Karin said while lowering her head to the ground once more. She kind of hated the idea that someone so kind as him had to stay with the snake. But at the same time, he was indeed a danger out of control whenever his powers kicked in, so she couldn’t judge him for his choice.</p><p>After all, each and every one of them were free to make their own decisions. Well, in Juugo’s case you couldn’t talk so much about freedom but anyway… She had other things to worry about. </p><p>After finishing their short conversation, Karin bid farewell and parted ways with Suigetsu as she headed towards the exit of the hideout they were in, with Konoha in mind, while Suigetsu headed to Orochimaru. Not before they wished each other good luck. <br/>For all their weirdness, they were after all partners in crime for a while and lived some experiences together.</p><p>But now it was time for her to let go of these bonds if she were ever to find out more about her past and to look towards the future. </p><p>Confidently, Karin started walking towards her own new path. The path of her Uzumaki heritance.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A wish from the past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Here's Kaika Saisei chapter 5: A desire from the past.</p>
<p>In this chapter I start delving deep on Otsutsuki territory.<br/>I always liked the idea of Kaguya and her clan. I never liked the way it was handled though.</p>
<p>That is why I took it upon myself to explore them in what I believe to be a better way. Hopefully, lol.</p>
<p>Enjoy the read!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I am sorry I was a bit late with this chapter. I made it to post it to the regular 1/month on my personal blog, but failed to do it here.</p>
<p>That's why I want to apologize.</p>
<p>This month has been really crazy at work so yeah... It happens when you have to adult.</p>
<p>I hope the contents of the chapter will make you happy tho.</p>
<p>So once again I say: enjoy the read!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A figure hidden in the shadows clenched its teeth whistle turning its back on the tall tree that stood behind, drenched in light. The rest of the place however, seemed to be nothing but surrounded by darkness. As if nothing else was there, but empty space.</p>
<p>One couldn’t even be sure if you could call it a chamber, given how everything looked. All void of… everything.</p>
<p>“You won’t grow more nor bloom here, will you? No matter how many moons have passed, nor how many shall, you just won’t do it,” the figure voiced its frustration, before turning its back to it, as if he wanted to leave the place.</p>
<p>In the next moment, the figure transformed its mass into what seemed something intangible, like you could run your hand through it, and disappeared from the location.</p>
<p>Then, the same figure appeared in what seemed to be a throne chamber, with stained glass placed circularly across the room, from where light entered all around, with big piling from the door to the stairs that led to where the two thrones sat. </p>
<p>“Fukanōna, any developments?” An elder figure stood on one of the thrones. The other one was empty. Like the rest of the room, which made the elder’s voice that had already a bass sounding tone, be heard twice as strong and imposing as its sound hit the walls. </p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Hisashī Heika,” he said lowering his head. Fixed his eyes on the ground, as his spirit started trembling under the realization of another failed mission. The weight of such realization was definitely a heavy one.</p>
<p>“The result is still the same,” he said. He kept his head lowered as the discussion went on.</p>
<p>“What about Kaguya and the tree from the other realm? Any developments on that side?” the white-haired elder asked him. That’s when the tension on Fukanōna’s face increased. His accomplishments kept diminishing, whereas his failures on the other hand, kept growing. </p>
<p>Ever since the old god approached what seemed to be the end of his existence, all the Otsutsukis were on the verge of an existential crisis. Even for gods. For they had though that once this form of existence was attained, their life would be infinite. However, they eventually found out that it wasn’t as such. Even the life of a god ends. It’s just a matter of time… and karma. </p>
<p> “Her body seemed to be unsealed, that is why we felt her presence, but… by the time I got to the other realm, she got sealed again. The humans seem to be a lot more powerful than aeons ago,’ he said.</p>
<p>“As for the tree on the other realm we saw, well… it got cut down. Testament to their new found power.”</p>
<p>“Tsk! All our plans seem to go to waste!” He wasn’t thrilled by the news he was hearing. The urgency of his finite form of existence caught up to him more and more. Who would’ve thought that even gods meet their end? With all the might, power and long life they are blessed with, it’s still not enough, for not even gods are eternal.</p>
<p>But there wasn’t any time for philosophies as such right now. They had to think and move fast. </p>
<p>“Well then, all that’s left then is to try our ultimate solution. Try to replant the tree on their realm,” Hisashī said to him in his commanding tone, yet old and seemingly worn out. </p>
<p>“I have to find a way to break free of this, for all of us to do it! Otherwise, our existence will forever be bound and trapped! If there is no tree on earth from where we can get the necessary energy to finally break from this, then all of it has been in vain. Her sacrifice as well. My beloved Kaguya’s sacrifice…”</p>
<p>“I… would advise against such idea, Heika,” Fukanōna quickly said. “Humans no longer see the tree as they did many aeons ago. For them, now, the tree is a source of doom.”</p>
<p>Advise against such an idea? But why was that? He couldn’t help but wonder. After all, the tree had meant so much to the humans back then.</p>
<p>He couldn’t help but ask. “What changed? Weren’t they very fond of that tree?”</p>
<p>“Yes, they were… but, you see, Your Highness, the tree seems to have undergone many changes since we last saw it. It’s probably the reason why the one we have here is acting against everything we knew about it,” he said.</p>
<p>“Then what do you advise Fukanōna?” the god king asked. He hadn’t waited more than two millennia for the plan to fail when he was nearing his end. “If the tree in our realm doesn’t grow and bloom, and we cannot plant another one on the human realm, how can we get that plan to work?”</p>
<p>“I… have another way to make that plan work, Your Highness. Please, allow me to tell you the details. I believe it will be better than trying to plant the tree back on the human realm,” he said with much confidence in his voice, as he prayed for the god king to just listen to him.</p>
<p>“You’re allowed to approach”, Hisashī said gesturing to Fukanōna. </p>
<p>As he heard the command, he lifted his eyes from the ground and went closer to the throne, stopping right near its stairs, without daring to climb on them.</p>
<p>He kneeled again and started talking, while Hisashī Ōtsutsuki listened to his idea. It wasn’t long until the god king started showing interest. </p>
<p>What he was being told didn’t sound bad, but what it did was to sound extremely complicated. The risks undergoing such a mission were great. What could entail its success if simpler operations posed so many complications?</p>
<p>Was this going to be a successful mission or not? Should he trust the one in front of him when the latest operations he underwent seemed to be nothing more than failures or shouldn’t he? But… at the end of the day he didn’t seem to have much of a choice now, did he? If it were for that goal to ever come to fruition.</p>
<p>Not to mention, he still had one more trick up his sleeve to use if the mission would indeed end-up being a failure. </p>
<p>“Ok, Fukanōna. I will agree with this plan of yours,” the god king said. His serious tone continued to echo in the chamber, as his eyes fixated his subordinate. “But remember one thing. If this ends-up being a failure like your other missions, you know which one we are talking about, it’s your karma I’m using. You know what will happen to your existence then, don’t you?” Hisashī asked, lowering his voice even more to instill the urgency in his subordinate’s spirit. The same one that he too, felt. <br/>This wasn’t a joke to him and ironically, now, time was of the essence. So, he didn’t want to lose any more of it. He needed his subordinates to understand the gravity of the situation. If they were ever going to reach a degree of existence unbound by the laws of their current level of existence, they had to see their ultimate goal through. </p>
<p>“If we ever hope to get into Ryōkai, so we can no longer be bound by Samsara’s rules, we need this to happen. We need me to be alive as much as possible, for it is I the one who sees so far as the gates to Ryōkai,” he added insistently while keeping his white hollow eyes continuously fixated on the man in front of him.</p>
<p>“I completely understand, Hisashī Heika” he said, bowing his head once again. “And I will gladly give my karma to you if needed be, for us to complete our ultimate goal and this mission,” he added, letting himself be carried by the same conviction that he felt earlier. Like that of a soldier ready to sacrifice his life for the greater cause. </p>
<p>“But I assure you Heika, there will be no need. This time, I will complete the mission to its end. I will allow no failure to happen and the mission will be a success!” Fukanōna said, as excitement embraced his spirit. This could be observed in his slightly raised tone compared to earlier. The voice betrayed the cool appearances he was trying to keep. </p>
<p>As the two exchanged their promises to one another, from the back of the room, the sound of firm heels against the granite floor started to become more and more apparent.</p>
<p>Those steps were of the one person everyone in the Heavenly realm could recognize, so Fukanōna knew exactly who it was. Out of habit, he did turn his head to confirm his suspicions. It was right there in front of him: hair long that reminded him of Kaguya’s, slim silhouette that made you wonder how she carried the pair of long horns she possessed – part of their trademark – so carelessly, the cold piercing white eyes that could freeze a soul and an expression even more terrifying than that of the one he had spoken with up until now.</p>
<p>“Heika-sama,” the man said bowing his head once more as she passed next to Fukanōna. </p>
<p>“What are you two doing here?” the god queen asked, as she stepped up the stairs and prepared to take her seat next to her husband’s.</p>
<p>“My Queen,” Hisashī said, slightly bowing his head. “Fukanōna here has a way to aid us in our goal completion, my beloved,” he continued as he followed her silhouette getting on her throne and fixing her attire, so as her impeccable looks be disturbed by no crease. She had always been like this. Her attire, her gestures, her look. All had to breathe perfection. If the words perfect goddess had an image, it would’ve been her.</p>
<p>She looked inquisitively towards Fukanōna and raised a brow. </p>
<p>“Is it true what my husband says, Fukanōna? Are you closer to bringing us at the doors of Ryōkai?” she asked on a sharp tone, that of which you could feel cutting through every bone of your being, as if to check if you were true to your words or not. That kind of tone to which, if your words were to be a lie, there would be no way to hide it, and you would end-up confessing.</p>
<p>That was the kind of presence Naora Ōtsutsuki was and what her tone was like. No wonder she was Hisashī Ōtsutsuki’s wife. She was the 1 degree that was missing in the 359 degrees field of vision the Byakugan possessed. She always had her husband’s back. There was nothing, nothing, that could stop these two.</p>
<p>But if one were to be that fool to think that she was just the female counterpart of the King of Gods, being nothing more than just that one degree, they would been oh so wrong about her. Her one degree made up for the whole rest of 359 with everything that she was and she had done.</p>
<p>Hisashī Ōtsutsuki might’ve been the one you saw confronting you in the light, but she was the one hiding in the dark. You would’ve needed your vision not for him who took you head-on in the light, but for her. She, who would stay quietly, in the dark, waiting for her prey. Like a predator.</p>
<p>“Absolutely, Naora Heika!” Fukanōna replied quickly to the queen goddess. </p>
<p>“Then why are you here, and not out there fulfilling whatever you told my husband you will do, to bring us closer to our desired goal?” she asked, keeping the same piercing effect to her questions as before. The look as well.</p>
<p>Upon hearing the second question, Fukanōna’s body was caught by a thrill. The queen goddess was as inquisitive as always.</p>
<p>“I’m on my way, Your Highness,” he answered. “Just finished discussing the latest details with His Highness,” he said as his eyes moved from hers to his while responding to the question.</p>
<p>“Well then, if you’re done, then you may leave us and attend to your business, while my beloved here tells me all I need to know about this new plan of yours to get us closer to our goal.”</p>
<p>As soon as the words fell on his ears, he knew he was being invited outside the chambers. Naora and her usual not so subtle ways. It was all part of her style. She didn’t have to tell you precisely to do a thing or the other. Her statements would let you understand that your services are no longer needed, or that, like in this case, you are dismissed and you must give the two the privacy they needed to talk about the matter at hand.</p>
<p>He excused himself and bowed to the two of them one last time, after which he started going towards the door’s direction. As he moved away from the two, he phased out into millions of pieces of particles and disappeared from the throne room. </p>
<p>Reappearing in his chambers, Fukanōna massed in and took a seat on the armchair that stood right in front of the window, facing outside. It was one of his favorite spots in the room, from where he would watch through the other realms.</p>
<p>That is from where he first peaked into the human realm when he sensed Kaguya’s presence once more after such a long period. Now, it was time to visit that realm once again.</p>
<p>“Now, let’s see where you are,” he said. </p>
<p>“Tengoku no Byakugan!” Fukanōna shouted as the veins near his eyes appeared on his face and his vision started immersing in the waves of energies visible on the human realm. </p>
<p>His eyes switched angles as he tried to pinpoint the person he was looking for. It took him quite a while to find his target. After all, he might have been a god himself, but he had to search through a whole realm.</p>
<p>After a short while he located his target. “Aah! There you are!” Fukanōna said, getting up from his arm chair. “Time for you and I to have a chat.”</p>
<p>He deactivated his Byakugan and looked down the window for one last time, before leaving the room. Memories from the times he used to travel on the human realm passed through his eyes.</p>
<p>But… there was no time to reminiscent on the past.  He decided to go and inform the god king and god queen that he had identified his target. </p>
<p>Once he arrived in front of their door, he knocked hard three times. The only times where he would phase in and out of the that room was when he had business with the chambers of the tree. It was confined in a special kind of space where only he could enter due to his special abilities.</p>
<p>The knock was quickly recognized by the Ōtsutsuki king. He invited Fukanōna inside. </p>
<p>“I have come to inform you, King Hisashī that I have located the target in the human realm. I am preparing to leave to that place,” he said.</p>
<p>“Very well, Fukanōna. You know what you have to do,” the god king said, looking him straight in the eyes.</p>
<p>Fukanōna nodded. After that, he bowed in respect one more time in front of the two before preparing to leave.</p>
<p>As soon as he was ready, he chanted. “Tenrai Chōetsu,” he said as his body got filled with light and phased out in a multitude of beaming particles.</p>
<p>“And he’s gone,” Naora said. “I sure hope he knows what he’s doing,” she added as she rose from her throne. Stepped down on the chairs and headed towards the high stained-glass windows. She sat beside them, looking up with her arms crossed.</p>
<p>“Otherwise, we’ll have to find another way to break into Ryōkai,” she said, turning her head back at her husband to face him.</p>
<p>“We must do this fast my beloved. You don’t have much time left and I don’t want to see you gone from my side,” she said. “I’d rather wreak havoc in all the realms of existence than see that happen. You have brought us to where we are now, it is only right we all enjoy it together with you, for the rest of all eternity.”</p>
<p>Hisashī looked at his wife with veneration in his eyes. She spoke so highly of him, and he couldn’t consider himself luckier to have someone like her next to him.</p>
<p>“But could I have done any of this it wasn’t for you, my beloved?” he said, getting up from his throne as well, gesturing at the whole room they were in. He followed his wife to the windows.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t be half the God I am today if not for you, my beloved Naora. I told you and I’ll tell you over and over again, for the eternities we shall live together. I may be the power, but you are the way. I would be nothing if not for your guidance and care,” Hisashī said. After that, he wrapped his hands around his wife in a strong embrace and they both enjoyed a moment of silence together.</p>
<p><strong>__________</strong>
</p><hr/>
<p>Back on the human realm, Fukanōna massed in upon arrival and started the search for his target. It was always a bit tricky with Heavenly Transcendence, as it didn’t always transfer one from a realm to another on the exact same spot you’d need to be. Not when Heavenly Byakugan had been just used earlier before in scouting the realm. The two techniques took a great toll on one’s body, even if we were talking about a God’s one.</p>
<p>But as a wielder of Byakugan, that sufficed for issues like this one. A simple Byakugan usage on the human realm asked a lot less than what you’d need in the heavenly one. Hundreds of kilometers or more in the human one was nothing but a piece of cake.</p>
<p>For this reason alone, Fukanōna used his Byakugan tuned to earthly usage in order to identify and pinpoint his target. He looked around for a couple of minutes before finding it.</p>
<p>“Soo, 20 kilometers from here then? This shouldn’t be a problem,” he said. Next, he changed his body size to just the right amount to go unnoticed and levitated up in the air.</p>
<p>“Off we go to you, my dear target,” he thought to himself, flying towards his destination. </p>
<p>Being able to change the mass of his body was one of Fukanōna’s useful abilities. That is why he was the one who used to do the travelling from one realm to the other the most. Not that it was impossible for the others. No. They could travel as well. After all, their existence was godly. It’s just that it required more of them to do it, compared to him who could phase out, mass in and change the size of his body at will.</p>
<p>This made out of him a good spy if you were to think about it. And that was the reason why it was him the one tasked with missions like these more than any other Ōtsutsuki. That is why it was him the one who travelled to the human realm back then with Kaguya, too.  He was the one who could go back to the realm fastest and easiest, in order to share the newly acquired knowledge.</p>
<p>After his small travel, Fukanōna got to the destination. Once he arrived, he checked the surroundings with his Byakugan. His target seemed to be accompanied so he held off a bit his desire to phase into his chamber.</p>
<p>After he made certainly sure that his target is completely alone for a longer while and doesn’t leave his chamber, he phased out from where he stood and massed into the target’s room.</p>
<p>“Greetings, human!” he saluted, as the curious face turned to see who was the voice that he had just heard.</p>
<p>It wasn’t like him to get surprised easily, but given the entrance this other person had just made, it was hard not to be surprised. He thought how to approach this, if with an attack or to be on the defensive.</p>
<p>For various reasons he decided to act cold and calculated like he always did. Not to mention that he wasn’t yet ready for a full-blown attack. So, for now, he just replied back with a salute of his own.</p>
<p>“Greetings…” he said. He turned his face to the side and looked closer to the man in front of him, throwing an inquisitive look. </p>
<p>Fukanōna understood that look. The man in front of him wanted to know who to address.</p>
<p>“Oh, how impolite of me,” Fukanōna said while bringing his hands closer to his chest. </p>
<p>“Fukanōna Ōtsutsuki is my name and I am here to offer you a deal.”</p>
<p>Both brows on the man standing across the other side of the room rose. A deal? What deal? With what purpose? Also, Fukanōna… Ōtsutsuki? He had heard that name once before. But what would someone named Ōtsutsuki would have to do with him? He was definitely intrigued… The last time he had felt this level of intrigue was back when the attack on Konoha happened. But that was such a long, long time ago… </p>
<p>“I can already see that deep inside you, you are wondering a great deal of things. Like why I am here, why you,” the Ōtsutsuki said, whistle walking through the room, under the fixed look of his target.</p>
<p>He asked, looking his target in the dead cold eyes. “And especially, what’s in it for you, am I right?”</p>
<p>“Most certainly,” Orochimaru hissed, keeping his cold stare fixated on the man that was walking through his room like he owned the place. “What would an Ōtsutsuki have to do with me? A mere mortal among gods, nonetheless.”</p>
<p>“Ooh, buy you aren’t a mere mortal now, are you?” Fukanōna said staring at him even longer. Orochimaru was intrigued. The one in front of him was speaking about him like they had been knowing each other for ages. Yet this was the very first time when the man was seeing him.</p>
<p>“Ah, granted, I may have had my tumultuous past, but… that’s all there now. All in that specific past,” Orochimaru said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.</p>
<p>He wasn’t sure who was he trying to convince though. The god in front of him or himself? He has had some changes of heart in the war. And maybe somewhere deep down inside him, he wanted all those things he had said. After all that he had seen while he’s lived through the others. After all that has happened to Jiraiya and the things he had witnessed in the war. After his ambition has killed him and after being forced to live inside his students, witnessing the things that had happened to him, made Orochimaru question his ways a bit. Made him want to join the ‘other side’ in the war and be of support. A lot of questionable decisions for someone who was once known as an international terrorist.</p>
<p>But can some people truly change? Can they truly change the nature they had been born with? Can they be above their being’s heaviest craving and desire? He was about to get an answer to that pretty soon, as Fukanōna asked him the next question.<br/>“So, you want to tell me that you’ve given up your long-life quest to learn about all the jutsus in the world and where they come from?”</p>
<p>Even the cold blood inside Orochimaru started to raise its temperature and he could feel his heart beat accelerating upon hearing that question. He knew about that? But how? How could an Ōtsutsuki know about that particular aspect of his life? This wasn’t general public knowledge. Only known by the ninja world, but that was about it. How could a god like him know something like that? Were there more Ōtsutsuki on the human realm than anticipated? But the legend said that only Kaguya existed. What was the missing piece here that was missing from this big puzzle? His researches would’ve definitely mentioned something about him by now. But they didn’t. Yet the one in front of him seemed to know so many details.<br/>Fukanōna smiled insolently. He had the upper hand on this matter and he knew it. He also had the element of surprise.</p>
<p>The next moments happened fast as Orochimaru tried to use his biting technique on the man in front of him, in what seemed to be an intended attack.</p>
<p>“So, the snake finally bites,” he said while phasing out, leaving Orochimaru puzzled. He wasn’t sure how he had first appeared in his room as he was taken by surprise. Therefore, he had to test a bit the waters to see who he was dealing with. Not to mention, he didn’t want to show submission, even if we were talking about a god.</p>
<p>“What if I told you there is another way to find out the secret behind everything, like you once wished, without you having to possess the Sharingan?” Fukanōna asked while he massed in again.</p>
<p>Tension continued to raise to different levels inside Orochimaru. How was it so possible of him to know so many things? That puzzled him to no end. Which made him wonder… Was he truly a changed man like he thought he would be? Knowing the secret behind all the jutsus in the world was one of his deepest desires.</p>
<p>The man in front of him was right. Well, the God. Probably that was the reason why he knew? But everything aside, it was true. To know the secret behind all jutsus in the world was his soul and body’s deepest craving. But not having the Uchiha eyes was the biggest set-back for him. He wanted those eyes so much because having them, according to his old hypothesis, would’ve meant so much more than being able to put a target under genjutsu so the body can be overtaken. Or so that tablet implied.<br/>But now, there was another way? How?</p>
<p>He looked at the God standing across the other side of the room as he retreated his long neck back to his place. Certain information was lacking from his data research, definitely.</p>
<p>He had run all his life believing that there is no way to do that without a Sharingan and now he was told that there is? How can he even resist such temptation?</p>
<p>“Well, you seem to know a lot of things,” Orochimaru said. “Why don’t you first tell me how that is possible, and then I can tell you if I will take your offer or not.”</p>
<p>“Oh, but we both know what kind of person we’re talking to, don’t we?” Fukanōna said. “Who is to say that after you find out what I need, you won’t try and do it without me? You do have a history of betrayal in your past” he said. “One way or the other. It’s who you are. You’ve always been like this” Fukanōna said to Orochimaru to riddle him even more.</p>
<p>Orochimaru’s right side vein pumped even more and more blood to his head. Curiosity was making him want to know already what’s that solution this god was talking about.</p>
<p>“Here’s how we’ll do to make sure we don’t betray each other. Let’s call it a two-way street, shall we?” Fukanōna asked while heading towards Orochimaru.</p>
<p>“We’ll be linked by this” he said while stretching out his hand towards Orochimaru. At first, the latter was suspicious and hesitated.</p>
<p>“One of the benefits of being bound to me is that you won’t have to worry for your body’s lifespan for let’s say… at least the next hundred years,” Fukanōna informed the man. He knew very well the problems Orochimaru had kept coming in contact with that hindered his path towards his goal. His mere mortal body. But… with a long life that one possesses as a God, some one hundred years to spare for this objective was nothing for Fukanōna.</p>
<p>“A token of appreciation from me to you” he said. “I know very well that out of every human on this realm, you must be the least trusting one. So, allow me to make the first step towards what I hope to be a fruitful cooperation with nothing but remarkable results for both of us. Allow me to start with this gift.”</p>
<p>When Orochimaru heard those words, he couldn’t help but continue to be intrigued. Lots of thoughts puzzled his mind. After all, this proposal sounded so good to be true. But, to be rewarded with at least one hundred years of life? To not have to worry about his body’s mortality for such a long time? That surely presented itself as an opportunity he wouldn’t want to miss.</p>
<p>But what would the catch be? Would it be worth it? Did he have a choice right now? Could everything function like his cursed seals? Because those cursed seals ate away at someone’s chakra, so at the end of the day, you had to pay with something to get something else out of it. Not to mention their origins, now that he thought about it…</p>
<p>So, what was the catch here? What did he need to be weary of at the end of the day?</p>
<p>Could he allow himself that luxury of being picky, given the current state of political affairs that was going around the ninja world? It’s not like he could easily get a newer body to be able to pursue all his interests. With the five grand nations now allies, conducting his experiments that easily would definitely be impossible.</p>
<p>So, in the end, he was pretty much left with no choice but to accept the deal. Who would he be lying to, anyways? His curious mind always wanted to know what is that lies behind everything. And now he had the chance. Without having to resort to his old ways even. This was a chance once in a lifetime that you don’t want to miss. Especially after you’ve been brought back to life. </p>
<p>A second chance, at a life that no longer requires your old methods, but one that still offers you the answers you sought for your entire life? Orochimaru definitely didn’t want to miss this.</p>
<p>‘Very well” he said. He stretched his hand towards the god in front of him as well. When the two shook hands, Orochimaru felt like an electrostatic energy grabbed onto his whole being, a shiver went down his spine and physically for seconds it felt as if someone was ripping the internal organs outside of him. His soul energy felt the same.</p>
<p>“What’s this?” he asked. His face betrayed terror for a few moments.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry for that”, Fukanōnas said. “It’s a slightly temporary feeling you get when the linking happens.” And he was right. After those few moments the sensation went away and Orochimaru started feeling revigorated and reenergized. <br/>“So, this is what it means to be linked to a god?” he said as he pulled his hand out of Fukanōna’s, throwing his both in the air. </p>
<p>With his hands up in the air, Orochimaru couldn’t help but notice in the middle of his palm a very familiar symbol: a diamond-looking one.</p>
<p>“This…” he said in amazement, as he brought his palm closer to his face.</p>
<p>“This means you and I are now linked” the Ōtsutsuki god informed him.</p>
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